Can't I Be of Some Use?
by Whispatchet
Summary: ArmadaXG1 COMPLETE OMG!] The final challenge how do they get home? Luckily the answer choses to come to them easily. But the mystery remains, what has been happening while they were away? And what remains left for them to find? SEQUEL PLANNED
1. Sounds of Battle

"_Gotta… find... him"_

"_There's …nothing …here"_

"_Where…are…you…"_

"_Decepticons, ATTACK!"_

"AHH!"

Optimus Prime woke with a start, and sat bolt upright, panting heavily. There was a beep from beside him, and the Autobot looked down. The yellow Minicon, Sparkplug, was standing on the edge of Optimus' recharge platform, looking up at him with concern in his blue optics. The smaller robot beeped again.

"No, I'm alright Sparkplug. It was… just a nightmare."

Beep, beep, beep.

"Yes, I'm sure."

- - - - - - -

Ah, the sounds of battle. Is there any other sound like it?

As Optimus and the other Autobots hid from the Deceptions' fire behind several large rocks, he figured that there probably wasn't.

"Damn!" The young Autobot beside him cursed, grasping at a burn on his shoulder. "Lousy Decepti-rats!"  
"Take it easy Hot Shot." Optimus urged. "It's only a small burn."  
Hot Shot pouted. "Still bloody hurt…"

Optimus sighed and shook his head. "There has to be something we can do here. The Decepticons obviously haven't gotten the Minicon yet, but they don't even seem to be looking for it either…"  
Optimus peered over the top of the rock as there was a pause in the attack. The Autobot leader frowned. Megatron was not there.  
"Where is he?" he mused.  
Optimus realized what was going to happen about a moment too late. The Autobot heard Hot Shot gasp, then a soft 'tink' as Megatron pressed the barrel of his cannon against the back of his head.

"Greetings, Optimus Prime." Megatron hissed gleefully.

Slowly, Optimus turned around, and looked up at Megatron.

"So." Megatron cooed. "Ready to die, old friend?"  
Optimus frowned. He hated it when Megatron called him that.  
"Not just yet, Megatron."  
"Too bad." The Decepticon said with a sneer, cocking his weapon and preparing to fire.  
_Not now…_ Optimus thought desperately, trying to find a way out. _I can't die now…I can't leave the other Autobots just like that…_

The sky rumbled.

"Goodbye, Prime." Megatron hissed, pulling the trigger.

The air crackled, and a flash of light tore between the two leaders, sending them flying apart.

After coming to a dusty stop and sitting up, Megatron looked back at where Optimus had been cowering moments before.

He saw the Autobot sitting a short distance away, looking about him curiously. He almost looked like… no… Megatron shook his head. He must be mistaken. The Decepticon leader gat to his feet and moved closer. He blinked. His optics hadn't been deceiving him! Optimus was… fading away!

Optimus looked around. Everyone was looking at him strangely. He looked down at himself. He was see-through! And, becoming more so by the second! Optimus winced as a massive pain chose that moment to well up behind his brow. He tried to stand up, but found he didn't have the strength. So, he just sat there, until, finally, he passed out, and vanished.

There was an eerie silence.

Megatron looked around. The Autobots still seemed to be trying to figure out what happened.

_What I wouldn't give for a good reason to withdraw right now…_ The warlord thought.

Suddenly his comm. crackled to life.

_**-Megatron!-**_ It was Demolishor. _**-We have located and secured the Minicon sir!-**_

_Perfect._

**_-Then let's withdraw at once.-_**

And then, that's just what the Decepticon did.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And lo, that was Chapter 1.  
As you may be able to guess, this is an Optimus fic. I wub Optimus -

The chapter isn't very long... yeah, sorry about that. I'll write the next chapter real soon. Now, I know those people who follow my stories are all like "RAR! Why are you not updating your other stories! We've been waiting forever!" right now, but I have just a wee bit of a block. And then I had this idea, so I went for it. Can you blame me? I really wanted to have the next Cybertronian Alliance chapter up before Christmas, but alas, it was not to be. At least you can all take solace in the fact that it's going to be longer chapter than the others. (It's not finished and is ALREADY heaps longer. )

I don't own Transformers, but it's be cool if I did. -


	2. Where, Oh Where

"_Gotta… find… him…"_

Optimus groaned and grasped at his head as he came out of stasis. What happened? Slowly, he pulled himself into a sitting position and looked around. He was sitting in a forest. His container was next to him, and Sparkplug was in stasis, curled up on top of the container. But there was no sign of the other Autobots anywhere. There were no Decepticons either. He was, apart for Sparkplug of course, alone.

"A forest?" Optimus said aloud. "This isn't where we were a moment ago… What happened? Where… where am I?"

"_There's …nothing … here…"_

Optimus looked around again.  
"Where is that voice coming from? It sort of sounded like Jetfire…"  
He listened intently, but the forest was silent.

_**-Where… are… you…?-**_

Optimus blinked and looked at his com.

**_-Jetfire!-_** He said into it. **_–Jetfire can you hear me?-_**

_**-Optimus! Op….ti…mus…..-**_

**_-Jetfire! Jetfire!!- _**But there was no reply.

"Slag it…"  
Optimus sighed.  
Suddenly, there was a tired beep. Optimus jumped in surprise, before looking over at his partner as he sat up and looked up at him.

Beep, beep, beep. (What happened?)

Optimus shook his head. "I'm not sure, Sparkplug."

The Minicon stood up and looked around.

Beep, beep. (Where are we?)

"I don't know the answer to that either."

Beep... beep. Beep. (Will... will we be okay?)

"I hope so. Come on," Optimus said, standing up and transforming. "Let's see if we can find out where we are."

Sparkplug nodded and climbed inside Optimus' cab, before the red Semi drove off through the trees.

- - -

"He can't have just vanished into thin air! He has to be around here some where!"  
"Hot Shot, calm down."  
"I can't be calm! I can't believe that any of you can be calm! Optimus is GONE!"  
Jetfire sighed.  
"Hot Shot, I know how you feel. But I managed to contact him for a moment after he disappeared… "  
Hot Shot blinked. "You did?"  
Jetfire looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, but just for a moment. I couldn't get a location for his signal, and he couldn't tell me where he was before I lost the signal…"  
Hot Shot grimaced. "So we don't know where he is."  
"Not so much…. No."  
"Uhgh."

- - -

It took Optimus an hour to find his way out of the forest and find a road. He followed it for another half hour, until he finally saw some human buildings on the horizon.  
"I hope we can get in contact with the others soon." Optimus said tiredly.  
Sparkplug beeped his agreement.

As he drew closer to the city, Optimus' hopes of figuring out where he was were effectively dashed.

_Where in the name of Primus are we?_

The buildings looked nothing like he has seen in the area around the base, or any of the cities he had been in. They had a sort of dull brown look to them.

As he pulled up to a stop sign, the Autobot spotted a television store on the side of the road, with a whole range of televisions in the front window, all displaying the local news. As he looked at the screens, he saw the year flash up: 1995

_1995?! That's got to be… at least 8 years before we arrived on Earth! Have Sparkplug and I travelled back in time?_

Suddenly, a large explosion coming from behind a few tall buildings on Optimus' left snapped him out of his thoughts.  
"What was that?" He exclaimed, before heading over to investigate.  
As he drew closer to where the explosion had occurred, he started to hear some disturbingly familiar sounds. Sounds of battle.

Optimus turned the corner, and was met with a battlefield. Many buildings had been devastated, and the road had been partially destroyed. But what shocked him the most, were the forty foot tall robots, engaged in a fire fight in the middle of all the chaos. Not just any old robots either; they were Autobots, and Decepticons.

_Are they out of their minds?! Optimus thought desperately. They're in plain sight! There is no way the humans could be oblivious to this…_

An evil cackle echoed over the sounds of combat and it sent a shiver though Optimus' system. He looked up and saw a jet transform into a robot as it landed, then transform again, but into a tank. Optimus stared. _A… triple-changer?!  
_Sparkplug beeped an alert, and Optimus focused his attention back to the Autobots. One red and blue one seemed to look a lot like him…

He was brawling with a silver Decepticon with a bell-shaped head, and… seemed to be losing. Optimus saw the Autobot's blue legs buckle underneath him and decided enough was enough.

_Confused or not, I can't just sit here like an idiot!_

Pressing his accelerator as hard as he could, Optimus charged at the silver Decepticon with a blast of his horn.  
The silver Decepticon looked to the side, a moment before the red semi truck with a blue and white container rammed into his side. He staggered and cursed before screeching in a scratchy voice, "How dare you?! Autobot Scum!" in a way that reminded him a little of Megatron.

The damage to the silver Decepticon was minimal, but the distraction was enough. The red and blue Autobot pointed his gun at the silver Decepticon and fired. The blast tore a great gash in the Decepticon's already damaged armour, causing the large, black-barrelled cannon attached to his arm to rip off and clatter to the ground. Black liquid Energon trickled out of the corner of his mouth.  
"Decepticons… retreat!" He cried, before taking to the air and flying away.

Optimus watched the retreat with interest. He was used to seeing the Decepticons vanish in a display of colours that made your head spin and your optics twitch. To have them just float away was a bit of a new experience.

A hand on the roof of his cab made Optimus snap to attention again, and looked to see the red and blue Autobot he had helped leaning on him so he could get up.  
"Sorry." He said, putting his weight on his less damaged leg and taking his hand away. "You don't mind?"  
Optimus smiled to himself. "Not at all."  
"Thankyou for your assistance; I'm alive thanks to you."

_Alive… thanks to me… _Optimus thought grimly.

Just then, a small group of Autobots came running up.  
"Are you alrigh' Prime?" One of them asked.  
Optimus was about to open his mouth and give a reply, but the Autobot at his side cut across him.  
"Yes, I'm alright. Thanks to a little help." He said, looking down at the semi.

Optimus blinked in surprise. _…What?_

The red and blue Autobot spoke again. "What is your name, soldier? I should like to thankyou properly."

Optimus wasn't listening. He was trying to figure out what had just happened. _That Autobot over there called this one 'Prime' but, I'm Prime, aren't I? What in The Pit is going on here?!_

"Hello?"

Optimus blinked in surprise. A small, yellow Autobot was standing in front of him, waving a hand in front of his windshield.  
"Oh, sorry."  
"Optimus Prime asked you a question, y'know. It's nice to answer." One of the others said.  
"Sorry." Optimus said again. "I…can't."  
"Why not?" The other Prime asked, looking down at the semi curiously.

"It'd be… too weird."

Without giving them a chance to comment further, he pressed down on his accelerator, turned his steering wheel hard, and drove in the opposite direction, leaving the Autobots behind in a confused cloud of dust.

The other Prime looked at the small yellow Autobot.  
"Bumblebee, follow him. See what you can find out about him."  
"Yes sir."  
Bumblebee transformed into a BMW beetle, and shot down the road after the mysterious semi trailer.

- - -

Optimus drove blindly for a long time. He had no idea where he was, why there was another Optimus Prime running around, why neither faction seemed very interested in hiding themselves from the humans, and how in The Pit he got here! It was all just too crazy for him to process all at once!

Sparkplug suddenly beeped at him to stop.  
"Why?"

Beep, Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep. (You're going crazy, Optimus.)

"I am not going crazy!"

The Minicon looked sceptical.  
Beep. Beep, beep. Beep. (You ran away from other Autobots.)

Optimus sighed, and pulled over.  
"All right… so I am going crazy."

Beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep. (Maybe you should transform for a little while?)

"Well, it sounds like a good idea. I would like to stretch my joints. But there is no cover out here. Anyone and everyone will be able to see me."

Beep. Beep, beep, beep, beep. Beep. (If you've noticed, none of the others seemed to care much.)

"I suppose that's right… but there are Decepticons on the planet too."

The Minicon gave Optimus' dashboard a flat look.  
Beep, beep, beep. (You have a huge Autobot logo on your container.)

Optimus groaned.  
"Saying it like that makes it sound obvious."

Beep. (It is.)

Optimus sighed. "Fine, you win." He said, opening the door to his cab.

Beep, beep, beep. (I always win.)

The Minicon climbed out, and Optimus transformed, unaware that a small yellow car was watching from a distance. And at that moment, the little car's optics bulged.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Didn't take me long to get chapter two up, did it? I hope I'm keeping all the G1 mechs in character so far; my ability to watch the series is severely limited. Perhaps I should try and secure the DVDs... Eh, that's a thought for tomorrow. I'm going to bed. G'night. R&R, yes?

Transformers are still not mine.

EDIT: Fixed spelling error, a gramatical error I noticed while fixing the spelling error, and some layout things that were bugging me. Enjoy.


	3. Try and Convince Him

"Holy Cybertron…" Bumblebee breathed, as he watched the strange Autobot transform and stretch his arms over his head.

_**-Bumblebee to Optimus Prime, come in Optimus!-**_

_**-This is Prime. What's wrong Bumblebee, you sound… slightly distressed…-**_

_**-I… I guess I am a little.-**_

_**-What's happened?-**_

**_-The new guy just transformed. And…- _**Bumblebee hesitated.

_**-…And what, Bumblebee?-**_

_**-…And, he looks almost exactly like you sir!-**_

A silence came through the comm.

_**-…Please repeat that, Bumblebee, I'm not sure I heard you correctly…-**_

_**-The strange Autobot looks like you sir.-**_

Another pause.

_**-Bumblebee. I think… it might be beneficial to talk with this Autobot again. See if you can convince him to come to the Ark.-**_

_**-Well, I'll try. Bumblebee out.-**_

Meanwhile, further down the road, Optimus was enjoying having a rest. He looked down at Sparkplug where he stood on the container. The Minicon seemed to be enjoying himself too.

"So…" Optimus said at length. "What should we do now?"  
The smaller robot looked like he was about to reply, but then, he spotted something coming towards them.

Beep, beep! (Optimus look!) He said, pointing.

Optimus spun around, and saw the little yellow car cautiously approaching them. The tall Autobot grimaced. He had hoped to keep himself hidden from the other Autobots… at least until he'd figured out what was going on. But now what was he supposed to do?

"Ah, excuse me!' The little car said, coming to a stop. "If you don't mind… could you please come with me?"  
Optimus shook his head. "I'm sorry, but it wouldn't be wise."  
"Well, you see, I've got orders from Prime to bring you back to the Ark…"  
Optimus tilted his head to one side. "Ark?"  
The little car transformed. "Yeah." He paused. "So… ahh…"  
Optimus sighed. He'd been in charge long enough to know how hard it is for the Autobots to follow his orders sometimes. He could tell that the small Autobot would rather be doing something else. He shook his head.  
"I'm sorry, but I really shouldn't.""But…" The yellow mech started to protest, but cut off as a small robot, even compared to him, jumped up onto the taller Autobot's shoulder and beeped.

"Sparkplug!" Optimus exclaimed.

- - -

Meanwhile, at the Decepticon's headquarters:  
"How dare that Autobot interfere?!" Megatron roared. "I had Prime dead-to-rights!"  
The other Decepticons grimaced. No one wanted to be within twenty feet of their leader when he was in this kind of mood. It was the kind where he was likely to open fire on any one who so much as looked at him. Too bad for them that he had ordered them to come together.  
"So. Who is he?"

Megatron's question was met with silence.

"Nobody has an answer. Not a single one of you knows who that Autobot is?!"  
More silence.

Megatron growled, and turned to a tall blue Decepticon standing at his side.  
"Soundwave, send your agents to find this Mystery Autobot. I want to know everything before I terminate him."

"As you command, Megatron."

- - -

"What… what is that little thing?" Bumblebee stuttered, as the smaller robot looked down at him and took a seat on his partner's shoulder.  
"He's not a 'thing'." Optimus said firmly.  
Bumblebee flinched.  
There was a pause, and the miniature robot looked at Optimus with a smile.

Beep, beep, beep. (You should go with him.)

"What was…" Bumblebee stuttered, looking up at the smaller robot is shock. "Was… was that it's language?!"  
Optimus looked down at the shorter Autobot.  
"Yes, it was." He answered, before looking back at his partner. "Why?"

Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep. (The Autobots here might be able to help us.)

"What... did he say?" Bumblebee asked.

Optimus didn't answer him. Instead, he said to Sparkplug, "Can we trust them though?"

Sparkplug smiled.  
Beep, beep, beep, beep. (Of course. They're _Autobots_.)

Optimus pondered the notion for a few moments. It had its merit. And they _were_ Autobots. He looked down at Bumblebee.  
"You wanted to take me to where Prime is, didn't you." He said quietly.  
The yellow Autobot took a step backwards. "Ah… yeah…"

Optimus nodded, and placed Sparkplug on the ground. "Alright. Transform."  
Bumblebee stood and watched with a confused expression on his faceplate as the taller Autobot transformed and waited.  
"Wha…what?"

"I said, alright. Are you going to show me the way?"

Bumblebee blinked several times and took a step backwards. "Seriously?"

"Yes.

Neither of the Autobots, nor the Minicon were aware that, flying above, there was a small metal bird, watching, and recording everything…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This chapter is a wee bit shorter than the last one, but only a really wee tiny bit! I thought this might be a good place to stop for now, even though it's a little short. And it's only been 24 hours since I updated this… (Just a bit less actually) I'll write more in the morning. I'll also write some more of other things too. Heh heh…

It's time to thank my reviewers! Thankyou everyone! I'm glad you all liked it as far as chapter two, and hopefully all the way to here too! I'll try to continue in the same way all to the end. Check back in another 24 hours. Chances are there'll be more! (But it is New Years Eve tomorrow night, so, you know, there might not be...heh heh...)

Nope, transformers are still not mine.


	4. Battle at the Ark

Optimus drove slowly as he followed Bumblebee towards the Autobot Headquarters. The smaller Autobot found he had to drive just as slow or keep stopping so he wouldn't lose him. Not that he minded; he was just glad that the strange Autobot had agreed to come with him.

After passing through the nearby town, Bumblebee led the semi down a dirt path, edged by tall canyon walls. Optimus slowed even further when he sensed movement at the top of the canyon walls. He looked up, and saw a few Autobots watching him from the top of the high walls. He stopped, feeling really uncomfortable.

"Come on." Bumblebee urged. "We're almost there."  
Optimus hesitated, but, slowly continued down the path after Bumblebee.

- - -

"Megatron, Laserbeak reports, the Autobot has been escorted to the Ark." Soundwave said dully.

Megatron grinned evilly.

"Get the seekers. We converge on the Ark at once!"

- - -

Optimus nearly stopped again when he saw the Autobots' Headquarters.

"Is… is that a ship?!" he exclaimed.  
"Yeah… why?" Bumblebee replied, his tone suggesting that it was a weird thing to say.  
Optimus hesitated, before quietly muttering, "Nothing, never mind…"  
Once inside the buried ship, Bumblebee transformed, and looked around. He smiled, seeing his leader enter the room from a door on the right.  
"Bumblebee!" He said, walking over.

"Well, here he is Prime." The yellow Autobot said, gesturing to the semi, still sitting in vehicle mode behind him.  
"Thankyou Bumblebee." He turned to the semi. "Welcome to the Ark."  
"Th-thanks…"  
"There's no need to hide yourself you know." Bumblebee said, looking back at the semi.  
Optimus was about to answer, when several other Autobots entered the room from the outside of the ship.  
"Oh hey, it's that guy!" One of them said, recognizing his alternate mode.

_This has become… quite complicated. Why did I listen to Sparkplug on this? This was a bad idea…_ The semi thought grimly.

"Who are you?" A white Autobot with red detail asked.  
Optimus grunted in response and reversed slightly.  
"There's no reason to be cautious." The other Prime said. "Please, show yourself."  
The semi reversed a little more. "Might be unwise…"  
"Unwise?"

Just then, the Ark shook, and the sound of laser fire erupted from outside.  
"Oh, slag it! What now?" A red Autobot hissed.  
"Autobots, roll out!" The other Prime ordered, and the Autobots dashed to the entrance.  
Slowly, Optimus followed.

- - -

The Decepticons were standing on the canyon walls surrounding the Ark, firing down at the Autobots below. The silver Decepticon was there, and was apparently leading the attack.

As Optimus cautiously made his way over to where the other Prime was standing, he heard the silver Decepticon shout out a demand.  
"Surrender that Autobot to me and I will show you mercy!" He yelled, pointing at the red semi as he pulled up behind the other Prime.  
Prime looked back at the semi, who made no comment.

_I'm the reason these Decepticons are here… that silver Decepticon wants me… _

"We'll never turn over a comrade!" Prime yelled back.  
Just then, Prime heard the sound of a transformation, and felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned, only to see a face that was almost a mirror image to his own.  
The fire from the Decepticons ceased, and they and the Autobots looked on in shocked silence, as the strange mech transformed, and revealed himself to look just like Optimus Prime!

"It's all right." He said softly. "There's no point risking your Autobots for my sake."  
"But…" Prime tried to protest, but the mech stepped past him, and walked across the battlefield, until he was standing right in front of the silver Decepticon.

"Here I am." He said calmly, looking up at the Decepticon.  
"So, you would sacrifice yourself for the safety of your comrades?" The silver Decepticon said with amusement. "Such heroic nonsense is worthy of Prime himself!"  
The Autobot chuckled slightly.  
"There's a good reason for that, you know."  
"Is there now?" The Decepticon hissed.  
"There is."

The Decepticon grinned. "You've got a smart mouth, Autobot." he said, raising his arm to point the newly attached weapon at the Autobot below. "Let me shut it for you."

And then he fired.

"Look out!" Prime shouted, but shut his mouth when he saw the Autobot move.

The blast struck the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust. The Autobot it was aiming for however, was unscathed. He had jumped backwards, out of the way of the blast, and skidded backwards a distance along the ground.  
He looked over at Prime.

"Get your Autobots out of here!" He shouted.

Prime blinked and turned to the Autobots. "Autobots! Fall back! Get back inside!"

"You've gotta be kiddin' us Prime!" An old sounding red Autobot protested. "What for?"  
"That's an _order_ Ironhide! Do it!"  
There were a few comments of disapproval, but the Autobots quickly withdrew.  
"I meant you as well!" the other said sternly, pulling a large black barrelled gun and holding it at the ready.  
"There's no way I'll just leave you out here on your own!" Prime snapped back, standing beside Optimus, holding his own gun up.

The silver Decepticon looked down at the two similar-looking Autobots with slight disappointment.

"Such chivalry… It's pathetic! Do you really expect to fight us all with just the two of you?"  
"I had intended to do it alone." Optimus said, glancing at the Autobot beside him.  
"I already said I'm not leaving." Prime huffed.

The silver Decepticon chuckled.  
"Either way, it does not matter. Your foolishness will be your downfall! Decepticons, ATTACK!"  
And the battle began.

- - -

Inside the Ark, the Autobots were not happy.

"Who does that guy think he is?" Sideswipe huffed. "Giving orders to Prime no less!"  
"Where is Prime anyhow?" Sunstreaker mused. "He should just leave that slagger to the 'cons!"  
"Prime won't do something like that." Bumblebee argued.  
"Doesn't mean he shouldn't."  
Ratchet looked towards the entrance.  
"I hope Prime is all right. We don't know who that Autobot is, or what he's capable of."  
"I don't see why your concern lies with the Autobot, Ratchet. Seeing as it's the two of them against all those Decepticons." Wheeljack disagreed.  
"If Prime hasn' come back in the next three breems, I'm goin' out there, orders or no." Ironhide growled.

The other Autobots agreed.

- - -

Considering the vast odds, the two Autobots weren't doing too badly. Granted, Prime had a deep gash in his shoulder that rendered his left arm almost totally useless, and Optimus was covered in burns. But three of the seven Decepticons that had been involved in the assault had been rendered unable to fight any longer, two of those three being badly damaged and without weapons, and the third in stasis lock. But that still left the other four.

The silver Decepticon suddenly whipped around, and fired his cannon. Caught off guard, the blast shot through Optimus' fingers, knocking his gun out of his grasp, and sending it flying across the area.  
Optimus grunted and grasped at his hand, fluid seeping out of the joints in his fingers, and looked up at the silver Decepticon as he cackled in delight.

"What say you now Autobot?" He laughed. "Now what will you do?"  
Optimus growled, electricity sparking behind his fingertips.

"You know, you're much too much like Megatron for my taste!" He spat, snapping his hands together in the Decepticon's direction, the action forming a red and blue sphere of energy, which shot through the air and collided with the silver Decepticon's chest, sending him flying backwards.

Prime stared at his battle partner.  
"What… was that?" He asked  
Optimus gave no answer.

Instead, he was looking up at the cliff, where the silver Decepticon was pulling himself to his feet. His chest was badly burnt, and there were thin cracks running all across his chest plate.  
"Curse you Autobot…" he said weakly. He would have spat out another, similar phrase, had his legs not chosen that moment to buckle under him. Hissing through clenched taste detectors, he looked down at the strange Autobot who looked like Optimus Prime.

"This isn't over. Decepticons, retreat!"

The two Autobots watched in silence as the Decepticons drifted away from the Ark. Prime looked over at his counterpart. He was shaking.  
"Are… are you okay?"  
There was a pause. Fluid dripped off Optimus' fingers and onto the ground beside him.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

"Yeah… I'm…"

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

"Fine…"

And he collapsed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh yeah, Long chapter!

Just in case it was not clear: Armada Optimus Prime, will generally be called 'Optimus' and G1 Optimus Prime shall be 'Prime'. Just to clear things up. (Won't be so much of a problem when there's only one of them about ...)

Happy New Year everyone! As the old year closes, and the new one is ready to spring forth and hit us in the face like a tomato at a bad comedy act, you all get one more chapter to read. And lo, not even a whole 24 hours since my last update. Too bad once the holiday is over the pattern won't continue…

Now, my reviewers:

Prime Revolver – Thanks! I will! You too. And, yeah, me leaving it with cliff-hangers every time will make you wonder... Heh heh.

Ruby Autobot - I will continue, oh yes. You can be sure of it!

CodeRed73 – Dude, I didn't even NOTICE that! He he he… man, what a dumb spelling mistake to make…. Wonder why my spell checker didn't pick up on it? Eh, oh well. I'll fix it, and it'll all be good. Thanks for pointing out my silly error.

Kaekokat – I agree. Optimus needs more lurve.

Raveen92 – Armada/G1 fics, kick butt. I whole heartedly agree.

Spartancommander – Heh heh heh. Yeah. And just think how surprised the cassettes will be when they see what Sparkplug can do!

Fk306 animelover – Will do. Gimmie 24 hours.

Whitefang4ever – Ah, thanks… I think…

Tahalli – Heh heh heh.

Thatredcar – Thanks! I do hope to keep it interesting.

Well, you all have a good rest of 2006, and a fabulous 2007!

(btw, transformers? Nah, ain't mine )


	5. Sparkplug goes Exploring

The Autobots were only half surprised to see their leader walk back inside the Ark with the new Autobot draped over one shoulder. They stopped and stared at him for almost a whole two seconds, before Ratchet and Wheeljack came over to help him.

"Are you alright sir?" Ratchet asked, taking the left arm of the unconscious Autobot and draping it over his shoulder.

"Yes," Prime said, looking at Ratchet. "It's nothing too serious. I'm more worried about him though."  
"Wonder who he is?" Wheeljack mused, taking Optimus' other arm, and taking the mech off Prime's shoulders. "I didn't think it was permitted to have a design so similar to someone else, except for perhaps twins."  
"Well," Prime mused, leaning back against the nearby wall. "I don't know about that… Perhaps he will finally tell us once he is repaired. Ratchet, I want you to begin repairs immediately."

"Of course."

"What about you?" Wheeljack asked, turning his head to look at his leader. "When will you let us repair you?"  
Prime sighed. "Afterwards."  
Ratchet and Wheeljack turned towards the med bay.

"Oh, Ratchet?"

"Hm?" The CMO looked over his shoulder at Prime.  
"See if you can find out about him while you repair him." Prime said in a dark voice. "He did something out there that… I'd like to know more about."

- - -

The inventor and the CMO had quite the dilemma to solve.

"How do you plan on doing this, Ratchet?" Wheeljack asked. "He may look like Prime, but he's probably nothing like him on the inside."  
Ratchet frowned and folded his arms across his chest.  
"I guess we should just open him up and see for ourselves. Then we'll know what to do about it."

- - -

At the Decepticon Headquarters, Megatron was pacing. That was twice now that he had been defeated thanks to that strange Autobot.

"Who _is_ he?"

No matter how many times he asked himself this question, he could never come up with a reasonable answer. None of his soldiers knew either.  
"Who is he?" Megatron hissed again. "There must be something I am overlooking. But what?! Who… IS he?!!"

Just outside Megatron's quarters, Soundwave stood, frozen in the moment before knocking at his leader's door. Slowly, he moved his hand downward, and pressed the EJECT button on his torso. Two cassettes flew out, transforming into a bird and a panther.  
"Laserbeak, Ravage, find and follow the new Autobot. Just knowing his location is not enough; we need to know more." He said quietly.

The two creatures nodded, and shot off down the corridor.

- - -

Ratchet and Wheeljack had been working for almost three hours on the fallen Autobot. Even during that short amount of time, they made some strange discoveries.  
"Remarkable." Wheeljack commented after their latest find. "He seems to have a second transformation configuration."  
"A triple-changer?" Ratchet returned.  
"No… I don't think it's quite that simple."

The CMO sighed. "I'm getting the feeling that nothing about this guy is going to be 'simple'. Come on; let's just put him back together. We've still got repairs on Prime to do."

- - -

It was dark when Optimus' golden optics flickered on again. Slowly, he sat up and looked around, for a moment worried, because he did not recognize the room he was in.

Then it came to him; The Ark. That's where he was.

He looked down over his body. He had been repaired, and his armour replaced, and he was all shiny. It felt different.  
He looked around again. He had been moved into a small room, probably a very low-rank soldier's quarters, which had nothing more than a recharge platform and a computer in it.

_What… happened?_

Finding no answer readily available, the tall Autobot stood up and headed for the door. But once outside the small room, he realized that he had no idea which way to go. He sighed.  
"Sparkplug would be able to find his way out of here without a problem…" he mused.

The Autobot froze.

"Where IS Sparkplug?"

- - -

The Minicon had been sitting patiently inside Optimus' container, waiting for his partner to return. It had, however, been hours, and the yellow mech was getting quite sick of waiting. He huffed and stood up.

_Optimus didn't give me any specific orders to stay with the container…So…_

The Minicon grinned. He'd had enough of this being dependant stuff; time to be _independent_.  
Stepping close to the door, he hit a small button on the inside, triggering the door, and snuck out, before transforming into his miniature car alternate mode and shooting off towards the town to explore, confident that he hadn't been spotted.

Alas…

- - -

Laserbeak soared over the landscape, before landing in a tall oak tree. A moment later Ravage appeared by the base of the tree. The two cassettes looked at each other.  
"_Well, what did you find out?" _Ravage asked.

Laserbeak dropped down out of the tree and landed on Ravage's back with a screech.  
"_I think the new Autobot might be a cassette host, like Soundwave."_ The bird answered.

"_Why?"_

"_He has a very small mech that he keeps with him. If it is a cassette like us, it may be a triple-changer cassette, because it just turned into a small car and headed for the town."_

Ravage milled over this new information.  
"_Did you record this and send it Soundwave?"_

"_I have not sent anything to Soundwave yet. I was unsure if I was correct. False information would not do Soundwave good."  
_Ravage growled and started pacing, the weight of the mechanical bird on his back not bothering him at all.

"_If the Autobot is a cassette host, why does he have the same alternate mode as Optimus Prime, and not one like Soundwave, or that Autobot cassette host, Blaster?"_

Laserbeak paused for a moment in thought.

"_Human vehicles sometimes have cassette decks inside them. Perhaps that is where he keeps his cassettes."_

Ravage stopped pacing and turned his head to look back at Laserbeak.  
"_We should find his little mech, and see if it is a cassette. If it is, we may have some information that Soundwave can use."_

"_What of the Autobot himself?"_ The bird asked. _"He is still inside the Ark. Should one of use go and watch him?"_

Ravage growled in contemplation.  
"_Perhaps it would be better if we focused on the small mech for know. It might provide some information on the Autobot himself. And the small mech is out in the open, alone. He shall be easier to locate and watch."_

Laserbeak screeched and took to the air.  
"_I will find him momentarily. He should not be difficult to find."_

- - -

Sparkplug drove quickly though the streets of the town, zipping past all the regular sized cars. He kinda liked the town where they were. It had a… cute kind of look to it. And all the people looked and acted differently to the town they were used to. He loved being out on the open streets, shooting past all the slower vehicles, leaving them not knowing what it was that just kicked a cloud of dust into their windshields. He may not have been the speediest Minicon, but he was still a lot faster than any of these vintage cars.

After about half an hour, the yellow Minicon pulled into an alleyway, and transformed. He stretched his arms over his head and looked around. Humans seemed to be avoiding the narrow passage between the two large buildings. He couldn't imagine why. The alleys on Cybertron were full of toxic waste, and other bad things that could do permanent damage to a guy's systems. There was nothing like that here; just a big green box with a flip lid, and some silver cylinders.

Suddenly, he heard a sound. The little mech whipped around, and saw a small black creature with white feet padding along towards him. His initial reaction was caution, and whipped a gun out and pointed it at the creature.

"Mew?" It said, sniffing at the point of his weapon.

Sparkplug tilted his head to the side. Curiously, he prodded the creature's head a few times with the end of his gun. The creature put its ears back and leant away from the small yellow mech.

_Oh wait…_ He thought. _I think the humans back at our base told me about these creatures… they called them… Cats? Was that it?_

Putting his gun away, Sparkplug gently put a hand on the cat's head. It began to purr.

_Heh heh… sounds like an engine…_

The yellow Minicon was having so much fun playing with the little black and white cat, he didn't notice the metal bird flying overhead, or the robotic panther lurking in the shadows…

- - -

In the meantime, Optimus was trying to navigate through the Ark. After a while, he thought he was going to go crazy trying to find his way around.

Just when he was about to blow a hole in the wall in frustration, he heard some voices from further down the corridor. Cautiously, and moving as quiet as he could, the Autobot moved towards the sound.  
Not far down the corridor, he found a large conference room, where many of the Autobots he had seen were. The other Optimus Prime was there two, listening intently on what was being said by the white and red Autobot, and the grey and white Autobot, who seemed to be giving a presentation. Although it didn't seem like the most honest thing to do, Optimus stood in the entrance, and listened quietly.

"He has a very interesting construction." Wheeljack said, letting his gaze rest on Prime. "He does not seem to have a subspace component, and has been designed so that he folds in on himself perfectly during transformation."

"That's… bizarre…" Prowl commented. "No subspace? That's unheard of."

"Those are the facts Prowl." Ratchet said grumpily. "But that's not the only thing we found during repairs."

"Ah, you mean this guy is even MORE of a freak?" Sunstreaker cried.  
Ratchet coughed impatiently. Sunstreaker huffed and looked away.

"Now, we've found he has two different built-in weapons, as well as his hand-held weapon, a Proton Rifle. The exhaust pipes from his alternate mode, which end up on his wrists, contain small laser cannons."  
"But his other built in weapon, is the most interesting." Wheeljack continued.

"That energy attack he used earlier." Prime cut in.

"Yes. It seems he has some sort of energy projectors in his hands. He uses them to form the spheres of energy, and then launches them at an opponent. As far as we can figure by looking at his internals, although the projectors have their own source of energy for the attack, he can channel his own power into the sphere."

There was a quiet pause.

"So…" Prime said quietly. "The attack has the potential for unfathomable power."

"Unfortunately," said a quiet voice from the doorway. The Autobots turned to see the new Autobot standing in the doorway. "The more power I force into the sphere, the more stress it puts on my systems." He bowed his head for a moment. "Apologies, I could not help overhearing you discussing my internal systems."

"O-Oh…"

- - -

In the meantime, Ravage and Laserbeak were watching Sparkplug as he explored the city. All in all, it had not been what they had hoped.

"_This is pointless, Laserbeak." _Ravage hissed. _"He is absentminded. This small mech, whatever he may be, has the mentality of a small child, and does not appear to be a cassette."_

As much as the spy cassette hated to admit it, Ravage appeared to be right.

"_But, if he is not a cassette, what is he?"_

"_Who knows?"_

Laserbeak sighed to himself and landed on the side of the building, facing the alley.

"_Perhaps he is not a cassette, but the Autobot seemed to want to defend him before, when the Autobot known as Bumblebee saw him. Perhaps there is merit in capturing him?"_

"_Perhaps…But we should ask Soundwave first."_

"_Agreed."_

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I am of the opinion that Armada Optimus' Energy Sphere attack kicks major butt. I am also of the opinion that the cassettes can talk to each other in some kind of unheard by everyone but them and Soundwave way. And, if they can't, for the sake of fiction writing, I'm going to make them be able to. Heh heh.  
Well, that was chapter 5. OooooOOooooo…

Review replies:

Ruby Autobot – Well, they might, but it is unlikely, this being an Optimus fic and all.

SteelFlare – Heh heh heh. Yeah, that WILL be fun. Glad you like.

Prime Revolver – Yes, cliff-hangers are the spawn of the devil, but they are an oh-so easy way to finish a chapter when I've run out of ideas. Heh heh heh.

Spartancommander – To be honest, I don't really know all that much about G1 Prime and Megatron's weapons. Of course they have to be ultra powerful; they're the leaders! But, the way I figure it, it's safer to make their weapons be a little less, than a little too much, unless it screws up the story. (I haven't screwed it up yet, have I? Ahh!)

As for the two different personalities of the Primes, I totally agree. Armada Prime is quite dependant on his soldiers, and will rarely go into battle without them. But, the reason I had him request no help from the G1 Autobots was because he felt that there was no reason for them to be helping him, as they weren't his soldiers and stuff. But that's the great thing about fanfictions; I can make them do whatever the heck I want, for no, or bad reasons. But I'll try to be true, I swear.

Fk306 animelover – Oh cripes, I hope I never leave you hanging THAT long. That's crazy. But if it looks like I've forgotten about this, (or anything else of mine that you might happen to be reading) just send me an email, yeah?

Thatredcar – Well, now you know! Sort of. Some Armada authors call it the Spark Blast attack. He never actually says anything about it in the show, and I haven't read the comics, so I wouldn't know for sure. But, he does it a lot in the cartoon.  
Everyone seems to be looking forward to seeing Optimus combine with his container! I suppose because it's a spiffy thing that G1 Prime can't do… heh heh.  
Get well soon, yeah?

Tahalli – He was… hiding….

Whitefang4ever – Was this better?

Thankyou so much for reviewing; I love you all!

More soon! Transformers no belong to meeee!


	6. I Think I Know Now

Prime immediately got to his feet when he saw the new Autobot standing in the doorway.  
He was about to say something, but one of his soldiers cut across him.  
"You were eavesdropping on us?" The yellow Autobot huffed. "What kind of Autobot are you?"  
"Sunstreaker!" an Autobot with the word POLICE on his chest scolded.  
"No, it's alright." The Autobot in the doorway said calmly, looking at the police Autobot. "He's right; it wasn't a very honest thing to do."

Prime stepped forward. "How are you feeling?" He asked suddenly.  
Optimus glanced at his counterpart. "Just fine." He answered. "Whomever your medic happens to be, certainly knows his job."  
Across the room, the red and white Autobot smiled to himself.  
"That would be Ratchet." Prime said gesturing towards the medic. "And yes, he is quite skilled."

Optimus looked over at the medic.  
"Thankyou."

Ratchet nodded.

Prime walked over and stood next to his look-a-like. "Come. I'd still like to talk to you." He paused, and looked back at the Autobots. "Autobots, you are dismissed." He said, before disappearing through the door. Optimus took a quick look at the Autobots, before heading after Prime.

- - -

Laserbeak and Ravage were sitting together on the top of a tall building, listening to instructions from Soundwave.

**_-Hmmm…-_** The Decepticon mused over the comm. **_–This small mech could be used as bait, if he is indeed important to the new Autobot.-_**

**_-Should we bring him to the Nemesis then? - _**Ravage asked.

There was a pause.

**_-Not just yet. Ravage, continue to observe the small mech. He may yet do something informative once he has finished exploring the town. Report back if you find anything.-_**

_**-Of course-**_

Ravage closed the comm., and then vented his anger by crushing a television antenna in his jaws.

"_Great."_

"_Calm down Ravage."_ Laserbeak urged.

"_I'm sure there has to be more productive things we could be doing than following this child mech around all day."_

"_But those are Soundwave's orders. We must follow them."_

Ravage sighed. _"I know, I know."_

Laserbeak took to the air.

- - -

"I feel I must apologize for the Autobots' behaviour." Prime said as he and Optimus walked side by side through the halls of the Ark. "They act so bitter because they do not know you."  
Optimus looked over at Prime. "It's alright. It's understandable."  
Prime shook his head. "It's still no excuse. You are an Autobot, and they should treat you the same as they do each other."  
Optimus chuckled. "It's fine, really. I know they don't trust me, but I find it doesn't bother me too much."

Prime sighed.  
"It would help if they knew a name to call you by. So far you are just, 'The New Autobot'"  
Optimus stopped walking and looked at Prime with a hidden smile.  
"You're saying that because you want to know."  
Prime grimaced. "Well… I am curious, but…"  
Optimus shook his head. "Sorry. But I won't be telling you."  
Prime frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "If I were to order you to tell me, would it help?"

Optimus shook his head and snickered. "No, I'm afraid it would not. Besides, I haven't taken orders for a very long time. I've been the one giving them."  
"So you are of high rank then?"

"Very."

Prime frowned. "So strange that I do not know you then. Are you lying to me?"  
"I wouldn't dare dream of it."

Something about the Autobot's tone of voice made Prime believe him.

He sighed, and continued down the corridor.  
Optimus smiled to himself and followed.

"May I ask you a question?" Optimus asked once he was walking next to Prime again.  
"Certainly. What?"  
Optimus frowned. "Who was that silver Decepticon that we fought before?"  
Prime looked at the other Autobot curiously. "You don't know him?"  
Optimus shook his head.  
"Well, that would explain something."  
"Huh?"  
"During the battle, you said to him, 'you're too much like Megatron'. I thought it was odd."  
Optimus grimaced. "Don't tell me that he…"  
Prime nodded. "Yes. That _was_ Megatron."  
Optimus rubbed the back of his head with his left hand. "Well, I suppose there had to be one running around somewhere."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Nothing. Never mind."

Prime smiled to himself. "You're very strange."  
Optimus shook his head. "No, just a little different."

- - -

Sparkplug shot along through the backstreets and alleyways of the city, with his new cat friend, whom he decided to call Kick Doubt, snuggled into the small interior of his alternate mode. It was starting to get dark. If Optimus woke up and found him gone, the Minicon knew that his partner would freak out. So, with the small cat curled up inside him, he started to head back to the Ark.

Overhead, Laserbeak was following him closely. Ravage thought it might have been a little too close.

"_Watch how close you fly Laserbeak! You are becoming careless!"_

"_It's fine Ravage. He will not see me."_

And, until the Minicon reached the canyon where the Ark rested, it seemed like he was right.

- - -

Prime had led the new Autobot through the Ark until they reached the Autobot leader's office. The two Autobots sat on either side of the desk, and Prime looked at Optimus quite closely.  
"I really would like to know as much about you as possible." He said, leaning his arms on the desk between them. "But if you'd rather not answer my questions, then that's up to you."  
Optimus nodded.

"First, during Ratchet and Wheeljack's debriefing…"  
"Wait," Optimus interrupted, holding a hand up. "Wheeljack? Where was Wheeljack?"  
Prime blinked. "Uh, he was the Autobot standing next to Ratchet back in the conference room…"

Optimus was quiet.

_That was Wheeljack? So he's still an Autobot here. But he looks nothing like the Wheeljack I know… But, neither does the Megatron here…_

"Are… you alright?" Prime asked as the silence grew too long for his liking.  
Optimus shook his head. "Yes, it's nothing. Please, continue."  
Prime nodded. "Well, in the debriefing, they mentioned that you have a second transformation configuration. But, they could not figure out what it was exactly."  
"A second transformation configuration?" Optimus repeated. "So they think I am some kind of triple-changer?"  
"They're not sure. That is why I am asking. So, are you?"  
Optimus shook his head. "Not as such, no."  
"What do you mean?"

"I don't have two alternate modes. My second transformation configuration as you put it is something else entirely. It's a skill that both myself, and my second-in-command can use, in the right circumstances."  
"The right circumstances? Like what?"  
Optimus smiled under his mask. "Like when we need to fight as one."

Prime's optics became round.

- - -

As Sparkplug drew closer to the Ark, the moon began to rise higher in the sky. The Minicon slowed to a stop just before the dirt path.

_It must look beautiful. _He thought. _I should stop and have a good look. I haven't seen the Earth's moon yet._

Opening his door, the small car harshly revved his engine, frightening the small cat inside so much that he scampered out. Sparkplug transformed, and picked the cat up.

Beep, beep, beep. (Sorry Kick Doubt.) He said, stroking the cat's fur.  
The cat started to purr and Sparkplug smiled. Then, he looked up at the sky.

Above, Laserbeak screeched in surprise as the small mech below suddenly looked up at him.

"_What! He's spotted me! Aggh!!"_

"_I warned you!" _Ravage hissed, before opening a comm. to his leader.

_**-Soundwave, this is Ravage. The small mech has spotted Laserbeak. What should we do?-**_

_**-Capture the mech! He must not be allowed to raise an alarm with the Autobots! Ensure that he does not escape!- **_

_**-Understood. - **"Laserbeak!"_

Sparkplug looked on curiously as a metal bird soared out of the sky towards him. Almost too late, he spotted the purple insignia on the bird's forehead, and bolted.

Beeeeep! (Optimuuuuus!)

- - -

In the mean time, completely unaware of what was happening outside, Prime and Optimus were still talking.

"I see." Prime said, leaning on the table. "So you've only been fighting the Decepticons for about five million years."  
Optimus nodded. "Yes. Although I was built about a million years before that."  
Prime nodded.  
"So young to be swept up in the war. It's such a shame."  
Optimus shook his head. "There are younger. The youngest Autobot I have under my command is only, well, he'd have to be only three million years old!"

"That's insane." Prime agreed, shaking his head. "But then, I have a very young soldier under my command too."  
Optimus nodded.  
"What else would you like to know?"

"Hmmm…" Prime mused. "According to Wheeljack and Ratchet, your body has been configured so that you fold up perfectly to transform, and do not have a subspace device…"

"I have one." Optimus cut in.  
"I beg your pardon?"  
"I have a subspace device." Optimus repeated. "Although it's true that I don't use it to transform. Truth be told I hardly use it at all. It's… just not where everyone else has theirs."

Prime blinked in surprise.  
"Then, where is it?"

Optimus brought a hand up and put it on his chest. "Here." He said quietly. "I don't know if you are the same, but I keep something very important here…"  
Prime's optics grew very wide, and he automatically placed a hand on his chest. "Something… important?"  
Optimus paused and looked at his counterpart carefully.  
"Very important. And you know what it is."

Prime blinked in surprise.

"I think… I think I've figured it out now." Optimus said, standing up and turning away from Prime. "I think I know what's happened, even though I don't know how it happened."

"What are you talking about?" Prime asked, also standing. "I don't understand."  
Optimus sighed and looked back at Prime.

"You asked who I was. Well, you know who I am."

"I… do?"

Optimus nodded.

"You do. Because you see, I'm you."

Prime stumbled backwards a few steps, knocking into his chair. "W-what?!"

"My name," Optimus said quietly. "Is Optimus Prime."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Buwhahahahahahahaaaaaaa! Evil cliff-hanger to the rescue!

Mah reviewers:

Raveen92 – Heh. I will!

Spartancommander – Well, yeah. That is true. But that doesn't mean that the Armada bots can't kick their share of booty. Ratchet and Wheeljack probably could reconfigure Armada bots to be able to use their powers without the use of Minicons. The reason they didn't try at this point, is because 1) They don't know Minicons exist yet, 2) They're not the kind of guys to go changing peoples configurations with out permission and 3) The only thing that changes when Sparkplug and Optimus powerlink is Optimus' power level. Unlike Hot Shot, who in vehicle mode gets forward claws, or mech mode where he is able to access his axel cannon, and most of the other Autobots, whose physical form actually changes when they powerlink. The second transformation configuration that was mentioned last chapter and now in this one was his 'Super Optimus Prime" mode, which he obtains by combining with his container. It's easy to get confused I guess, because after Optimus gets Sparkplug, every time he goes into Super mode, he powerlinks with Sparkplug as well.  
As for Soundwave… if he went to the Armadaverse, everyone would get their asses kicked I think.

Storm Blue Lightning Saix – Thankyou! I shall continue yes. The armada boys? I dunno if they're freaking ouy, but they're probably freaking out! Heh heh.

Kaekokat – YAY!

Ruby Autobot – Yeah, I know that's what you meant. The other Armada mechs aren't going to have much of a role in this story. It's all about Op. I better show what they're up to soon though, huh?

Whitefang4ever – You'll just have to wait and see what happens to the little scraplet. I like him too. He's cute. And don't glare at me. XP

Tahalli – Sunny and Swipes need more air time.

Thatredcar – Heh. I'm glad I got Sunny right. I didn't realise Sunstreaker was as much of a jerk as I thought! And yeah, once Prowl hears there are two Optimus Prime's about, yup, his logic circuits are just going to blow up. Good to hear you're feeling better!

I'm tired, and so, I'm going to bed. Have a good one peoples, thanks for reading!

Transformers no mine…. ZzzzzzZZzzz…


	7. Moonlight Gestalt Assault

"But… how…?"

Optimus looked at his counterpart. It wasn't surprising that he was shocked; it was pretty farfetched.

"I think that, this may be a different universe." Optimus said. "You are Optimus Prime for this universe, and I am Optimus Prime for mine… But I do not know how I ended up here."  
Prime was quiet.  
Optimus didn't know what he should say to him.

Then, Optimus' comm. activated, and a series of distressed beeps came through, filling the room.

**_-Beeeeeeep! Beep beeeeep! - _**(Optimuuuuus! Help!)

Prime looked at his counterpart in surprise.

"What was that?"  
Optimus however wasn't paying attention. He was staring at the comm. device in his arm with wide optics.  
Prime blinked. "Is something wrong?"  
Optimus whipped around. "I have to get to the main entrance, now!"  
"Why?"  
Optimus' optics became pleading. "Please, you must trust me."

Prime paused for a moment, then nodded. "Follow me."

- - -

Having been pursued by Decepticons for the better part of his life, Sparkplug had gotten pretty good at not getting captured. He ducked and turned and rolled all over the place, ducking behind rocks and slipping through Laserbeak's claws as he snatched at him.

Beeeeeeeeeeep! (Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!)

Ravage watched the game with interest from the top of the canyon walls.

"_Are you enjoying playing with him, Laserbeak?"_ The panther taunted, looking down as the bird missed the yellow mech again.

Laserbeak screeched with rage. _"I'm not playing around! You could help me you know!"_

"_And miss the show? Just hurry up with it."_

Laserbeak screeched again and dived for Sparkplug, missing him as he dashed inside Optimus' container, where it still sat obediently outside the Ark's main entrance.  
Ravage stood and came over and stood on top of the white and blue container.

"_What is this thing?"_

"_It's the trailer from the Autobot's alternate mode."_ Laserbeak said, landing on it and pecking at it. _"It's made of tough stuff… I don't know if we'll be able to get it open."_

Ravage nodded his agreement. _"And the longer we take in capturing him, the longer the mech has to contact the Autobots for help. I'm calling Soundwave for help."_

_**-Soundwave, this is Ravage. We require assistance. –**_

**_-What is your situation?- _**Soundwave answered.

_**-The small mech has taken refuge in the Autobot's trailer outside the Ark. We can not get it open, and it seems to be made of an incredibly durable metal that we can't pierce in a hurry. The longer he's in there the longer he will be able to call for help. Can some Decepticons be sent to assist?-**_

_­_- - -

At the Decepticons headquarters, Soundwave stood in the main control room with the sour-faced Megatron standing behind him. The blue Decepticon turned to look at his leader.  
"Can someone be spared?" he asked.  
Megatron looked thoughtful for a moment, before letting an evil smile dance across his features.  
"Send the Stunticons. I'm sure Motormaster will enjoy having another Semi-Trailer to practice on."  
Soundwave nodded, and brought the Stunticons' frequency up.

**_-Stunticons, Megatron commands you to go to the Ark and retrieve small mech in possession of new Autobot warrior –_**

There was a pause.

**_-What, dare I ask, does Megatron want with some Autobot mini?- _**Came Motormaster's reply.

**_-The new Autobot has the same alternate mode as Optimus Prime.-_** Soundwave said flatly.

There was a long pause. There seemed to be a whispered conversation going on in the background. Megatron grinned.

_**-Fine, we'll do it.-**_

- - -

_**-Ravage, the Stunticons are on their way. Keep any Autobots away from that trailer until they arrive. – **_

Just then, the two Optimus Primes ran out of the main Ark entrance.

"_Oh, frag."_

"That's Ravage and Laserbeak!" Prime hissed, pulling out his rifle.  
"Laserbeak? There's one in this universe too?" Optimus exclaimed, looking up at the bird as it took to the air from his container. "Wait… that's the Decepticon's logo!"  
"What, yours isn't a Decepticon?" Prime asked.  
"Ours is an Autobot!"

"_What are they talking about Ravage?"_

"_I'm not sure…Eh, who cares. Just blast them already."_

"…'_kay."_

And he opened fire. The two Autobots quickly dodged out of the way.

_Wonder what they want with the container? _Optimus thought. _Where are you Sparkplug?_

Then, the Autobot thought of something.  
"I think I know why these Decepticons are here!" He said as he jumped out of the way of a blast that came from the panther cassette.  
"Why?" Prime asked, returning some of Laserbeak's fire.

Instead of answering, he looked over at the container. "Container, open!"

Prime and the two cassettes watched as suddenly, the white and blue trailer's seems shimmered white, and it fell open, revealing a mobile command centre inside, complete with weapons, an aircraft hangar and a helicopter pad. And sitting in the middle of it all, holding his little black and white cat to his chest was Sparkplug.

"Sparkplug!" Optimus exclaimed.  
The Minicon looked up and smiled in relief.

Beep! (Optimus!)

"What is that?" Prime exclaimed.  
A loud horn rattled the air, and five vehicles came over the rise.  
Prime cursed. "Stunticons… Not good…"  
"Well, well." The black semi-trailer laughed as he transformed. "The ol' tape deck was right! There are two of ya aren't there!"

"Who are you?" Optimus asked, taking note of the fact that Laserbeak and Ravage had stopped attacking.

"My name's Motormaster, leader of the Stunticons! And you ain't no mach for us Red."  
"We'll see about that!" Optimus automatically retorted.  
"No!" Prime cut in "He's right! They're a Gesault!"  
Optimus blinked and looked back at the Decepticons as they grinned.  
"A… Gesault?"  
Motormaster grinned.  
"Well, since you're here, let's get this over with! Stunticons, merge to become Menasaur!"

Had Optimus' mouth not been held firmly in place by his mask, it would not only have dropped open, but dropped off, and kept falling till it came out the other side of the Earth.  
"They… they combined!"  
"Don't you have Gesaults in your universe?"  
"N-no… not quite…"

"I Menasaur… destroy Autobots!" The giant Gesault roared, swinging at the two Autobots. Optimus jumped out of the way, but Prime reacted just a moment too slow, and was flung backwards into one of the canyon walls.  
"Prime!" Optimus exclaimed.

Beep! Beep, beep! (Optimus! Look Out!)

Optimus turned to see the gigantic Menasaur looming over him.

"I Menasaur… not like new Autobot!"

_We don't have Gesaults, but we do have something else…_ "Sparkplug!"

The Minicon nodded in understanding and ran off the mobile command centre as his Autobot partner jumped high into the air.  
Prime pulled himself up just to see his counterpart jump into the air and yell, "TRANSFORM!"  
Before the Autobot leader had a chance to make a move or utter a sound, he saw Optimus' container move. He and Menasaur watched as Optimus seemed to fold into himself to form a torso and head., and his container transformed into a set of legs. There was a bright flash as the two parts joined together, and then, the small yellow robot transformed into a car, and latched onto the combined mech's shoulder.

Menasaur's jumbled thought processes couldn't make sense of what had just happened fast enough. Before he knew what to make of it, the large mech was staring down the barrel of the convoy's cannon.

"MAX FIRE!" The convoy shouted as he pulled the trigger.

Not only did the Decepticon Gesault receive the full force of the blast from the cannon in his face, but was also pelted by an array of bolts that came from miniature cannons on the convoy's legs and shoulders, which made a colourful display of white, red and gold beams.

"AAAAAaahhhh!" Menasaur cried as he was flung backwards from the attack and clattered to the ground.

The damage wasn't great, but the large mech was for the moment, effectively stunned. Prime stood and walked over to his counterpart. "What was that?" He asked, now the shorter of the two Autobots.  
"What do you mean?" the convoy asked, looking down.  
"You combined with your trailer…"  
"You can't?"

"N-no. I'm beginning to think that you can do a lot of things I can't."

"Well," The convoy paused, and split up, before looking at his counterpart with a smile behind his mask. "I'm sure there are things you can do that I can not too. After all, we may be the same person… But we're not the same. Our voices and appearance alone should attest to that."  
Prime nodded, and looked back at Menasaur, who was beginning to get up. "I should call some Autobots out to help us fight. Gesaults are a pain to fight."  
"Surely you have some Gesaults of your own?"  
"Well, yes, we do… but they are young, and combining puts stress on their systems."

**_-Attention Autobots!- _**Prime said into his comm. **_-We have a Decepticon Gesault outside the main Ark entrance! We need backup ASAP! The two of us will not be able to hold him for long. -_**

Sparkplug beeped in alarm and the two Autobots looked over and saw Menasaur pulling himself to his feet and growling.  
"I Menasaur… not happy! I Menasaur…_DESTROY!!!_"  
The Gesault stomped forward, and the two Autobots opened fire, Optimus aiming for the massive mech's head and Prime aiming more for the places where the Decepticons were joined together.

Suddenly, seven Autobots burst out of the Ark and took aim.

- - -

Back at the Decepticon's headquarters, Megatron and Soundwave were watching everything as it was being relayed to them from Laserbeak's camera.  
"Hmmm…" Megatron mused. "This is becoming very interesting… Menasaur, withdraw at once!"

- - -

The Gesault probably didn't even hear the command from Megatron. He was more concerned with saving his own skin. When he spotted the Autobots coming out of the Ark, his only thought was to save his hide.  
"Too many Autobots… Menasaur goes!" And the mech took off and fled into the sky.

The Autobots watched as the large Decepticon fled, and a few fired into the air after him, just because they could.  
A red Autobot walked up to the two Optimus Primes.  
"Prime," He said, his voice thick. "You alright?"

Optimus nodded, while Prime answered. "Yes Ironhide, I believe we are both alright."  
Ironhide looked at Optimus. "You gunna tell us who you are?"  
Optimus turned his head to look at his counterpart.  
"I think… he said, his voice making the red Autobot step back a little. "It's up to him… Wether he believes me or not."

Prime looked across at the Autobots who had come to help them. As well as Ironhide, Prowl, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Hound, Bluestreak and Ratchet had also come out to help them.  
"Autobots," He paused and looked at Optimus. "And that includes you my friend."  
Optimus nodded.  
"We have things to discuss. Ratchet, get Wheeljack, and meet the rest of us in the conference room."  
The Autobots nodded and headed back towards the Ark. But Optimus hesitated.

"Does this mean you're going to tell them?"  
Prime nodded.  
"As strange as it sounds, I believe your story. If you really are who you say you are I know that you won't lie. And…" Prime paused and looked at Sparkplug where he stood on his partner's shoulder, looking around the larger mech's head. "And I think, there are lots of things we could learn from you, and your little friend there."

Optimus glanced at Sparkplug, who promptly climbed from the Autobot's shoulder to sit on his head. The small transformer smiled at Prime and beeped.  
Optimus smiled under his mask. "His name is Sparkplug. He says he's happy to meet you."  
"Sparkplug?" Prime repeated. "His name is Sparkplug?"

"Yes… why?"

Prime chuckled. "That's amusing." He said. "Because Sparkplug is the name of one of the Humans who works with us here."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, the chapter a day trend only lasted the first six chapters. Still, that's my best record yet! I dunno why I write fics for this kind of shows; I don't think I write battle scenes very good. Ah well, on to the reviews:

KiWI Rai Rai – I hope I don't do anything so underhanded as making you cry Rai Rai. YouTube is pretty much foreign territory as far as I am concerned, what with my depressingly slow dial up hell. But, my best bud just loves making me DVDs, so he will be more than happy to burn the series for me. Thanks anyway Rai. (Your TF stories are awesome btw Rai!)

SteelFlare – Yush, he is okay. Just as well, Optimus would peak if Sparkplug got totalled. Heh heh…

Spartancommander – I take your ideas seriously, don't I?

Ruby Autobot – It is a little bit of a wacked out way to tell him, yes. Heh.

Whitefang4ever – Yes, he's okay. I wouldn't let the chibi-mech get into too much strife.

Raveen92 – Thanks!

Prime Revolver – Hehe, the old cliff-hanger to the rescue! But you know that you've done them right if people don't care. Heh heh.

CodeRed73 – They were, to be honest, the first two cassettes that popped into my head. But I better give Rumble, Frenzy, Buzzsaw, Squalkbox (Squalktalk + Beastbox according to my guidebook) and any other cassette that I might have forgotten a little screen time.  
I haven't seen a lot of the Cybertron series Red, so, I can't really write any fanfics for it. But, Optimus Prime is in pretty much all of my transformers fics… as you'll notice when I get off my fat butt and post the other ones up.

Fk306 animelover – Well I doubt you can get much more confused after meeting yourself from another world. Hehe.

Thatredcar – Heh heh. Glad you like. And yes, Soundwave and his cassettes are going to have a long talk abut little Sparky.

Tis all for now, ja ne till later, all you wonderful people!


	8. Introductions and Explainations

The Autobots sat around the table in the conference room, Prime at the head of the table, his counterpart on his left, Ratchet on his right. Prowl sat on the other side of Optimus, and Sunstreaker sat next to him. On Ratchet's other side was Wheeljack, then Bluestreak, Sideswipe and Hound. Ironhide sat at the end, with Bumblebee on his left.

The Autobots looked curiously at the seating arrangement. It was pretty much the same as normal, except, the New Autobot was sitting between Prime and Prowl. As second-in-command, Prowl thought it was very improper for _anyone_ to be sitting between himself and their leader, and they all, with the exception of Optimus, knew it. But Prime had looked at the police car with strange look in his optics, and Prowl decided it was better not to argue.

Prime turned his head to look at the Head Engineer.

"Wheeljack," He said quietly. "As an engineer, would you confirm, or deny the existence of parallel worlds?"

Wheeljack blinked in surprise at the odd question. He glanced at the New Autobot while pondering his answer, and was shocked to see a look of caution in the Autobot's optics. Not anger, and not fear, but caution, as if he didn't trust him.

Attempting to shrug it off, Wheeljack looked to Prime and nodded. "I think I can confirm that Prime." He said. "The Space Bridge uses other universes to let us travel long distances. But we cannot go to these other worlds using the Space Bridge."

Prime nodded once, and looked at his counterpart beside him.  
"Do you have a Space Bridge where you're from?" He asked.

Optimus shook his head. "We don't have anything called that. We have a Warp Gate to travel around the Earth, and the Decepticons have one as well, though a different one. And they don't use other worlds to work. They just… warp."  
Wheeljack straightened. "Just warp? You have warp technology that advanced?"  
Optimus nodded. "We always have. Or, at least since the war started."

The other Autobots looked at each other in surprise.

"Do you use this technology to travel from Earth to Cybertron?" Prowl asked, turning his head to look at the mech beside him.  
Optimus shook his head. "We did when we arrived, but that was a long time ago. We haven't been back to Cybertron since. We're in the process of building a ship to take us back when our mission is finished."  
Sunstreaker huffed and leant back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Why not just use the Space Bridge?"  
Optimus looked at the yellow mech. "I told you; we don't have one."

"Why can't you just warp back?" Bumblebee asked.  
"We weren't able to bring the more powerful equipment with us through the warp." Optimus answered.

Prime held up a hand, as a signal for the questions to stop.  
"That's enough." He paused and looked at Optimus. "Wheeljack's opinion is enough to confirm your story, at least for me."  
Optimus nodded. "But what would I do if I was wrong?"  
Prime chuckled at the comment before turning to his Autobots.

"Men, this mech here beside me is from one of these other worlds. And, he happens to be that world's version of one of us here…"  
Prime cut off and looked at Prowl as he sprung out of his chair and stepped back away from his counterpart.

_Of course he would be one of the ones to figure it out before I tell them. _Prime thought. Looking around, he could see that Wheeljack and Ratchet had also connected the dots on their own. Ratchet was staring at Prime with his mouth slightly agape in shock.  
His other men however were just staring at Prime blankly, wondering why Prowl, Wheeljack and Ratchet looked so distressed and waiting for Prime to tell them who the New Autobot was.

_They can't all be that smart I guess. _Prime thought. _It'd be weird around here if they were… well, MORE weird._

"In his world, he would be where I am sitting." Prime said, pausing to hear a gasp of realisation from Bumblebee. "He is another world's Optimus Prime."  
Sunstreaker and Ironhide simultaneously stood bolt upright.  
"WHAT?!" They shouted together. "You have gotta be joking!" Sunstreaker added.

Prime shook his head. "I most certainly am not, Sunstreaker. He has told me his story, and I believe him."

"Now you see why I did not want to tell you all who I was." Optimus added.  
"But you ended up doing it anyway." Wheeljack said flatly, now understanding the look in the Autobot's optics. The Wheeljack in his world must have done something.  
"Well, that's obvious."

"Prowl, Ironhide, Sunstreaker," Prime said, addressing the Autobots in turn. "Sit down."  
Prowl and Ironhide did as they were told, albeit slowly, but it took a glare from Prime to get Sunstreaker back in his chair.  
After his men were seated, he looked at Optimus. "Which Autobots do you have on Earth with you in your world?" He asked.

Optimus hesitated, but then began counting the seven Autobots off on his fingers.  
"To start off there was only myself, Hot Shot and Red Alert. Then Smokescreen joined us. Then Scavenger, then…"  
"HOLD UP!"  
Optimus cut off at a shout from Prowl. He turned and looked at the distressed police car.

"What?"

Prowl frowned. "Scavenger is a Decepticon! We've faught him a dozen times before!"  
Optimus shook his head. "No, he's an Autobot. He taught me to fight before the war started."  
Prowl's distressed look deepened. "But…"  
"Prowl…" Prime said quietly.

Prowl retreated, but his expression did not improve.

"Please, go on." Prime said, nodding in Optimus' direction.  
Optimus nodded. "Well yes, there is Scavenger, then Blurr, then Jetfire, and then, Sideswipe."  
The Autobots all turned to look at the red Autobot sitting near the end of the table, who was staring at Optimus with round optics.  
"R-really?" He stuttered.

Optimus blinked. "Uh… yes. Why?"

"Hey!" Sunstreaker said looking back at Optimus, putting his hands on the table and rising out of his seat slightly. "Is there a Sunstreaker in your world too?"  
"Uh… might be… I'm not sure. One of the Autobots back on Cybertron might have your name sure… but probably one of the lower-ranked ones, because I've never met him."  
Sunstreaker slumped back into his chair and looked positively gloomy. Sideswipe chuckled.  
Optimus turned his head to look at his counterpart.  
Prime nodded. "The two of them are brothers. That Autobot there," He motioned towards Sideswipe. "…is this world's Sideswipe."  
"Ah, I see."

Sideswipe looked up at Optimus. "He's one of your best fighters right? If he's on Earth with you he's gotta be good."

_This kid's got an ego._ Optimus thought, smiling to himself.

"Well, I didn't request for him to come… he came on his own tangent, looking for Blurr. But, theoretically… he is one of my Elites…" Optimus looked away. He didn't want to hurt the Autobot's ego.  
"Theoretically?" Sideswipe mimicked. "How can you be 'theoretically' an Elite soldier?"  
"Well… Like you, most assume because he is with us he is skilled… he does have some skills; he is a code breaker, and one of the best I've seen. Even the more experienced code breakers I've met haven't had his skills."  
Sideswipe beamed.

"However," Optimus continued, determinedly not looking at the red Autobot. "When it comes to anything else…"  
The Autobot's tone made Sideswipe's smile drop.  
"What?!" He cried. "Come on, spit it out!"  
Optimus flinched.

"He's clumsy, socially-inept, a poor shot and likes tormenting the other Autobots with hugs!" He said quickly.

There was a pause. Optimus cautiously looked up, just in time to see Sunstreaker burst into hysterics. Optimus looked at Sideswipe. If a dark cloud appeared over the Autobot's head and started hailing on him he couldn't have looked gloomier. Optimus grimaced. He really wished Sideswipe hadn't asked.

"Alright that's enough!" Prime boomed.

Sunstreaker's laughter subsided to a silent chuckle, and Sideswipe still looked depressed, but he looked up and payed attention none-the-less.  
Prime sighed and shook his head, before looking at Optimus.  
"You only have seven Autobots under you?" He asked.  
"That's right. But there are lots of others who work at our base with us, like the kids…"  
"The kids? Who are they? Humans?" Ratchet asked, raising an optic ridge.  
"Yes, they are humans. They are only young though. Rad, Carlos, Alexis, Billy and Fred. The five of them help us with our missions."  
"How do you keep a pack of humans safe from the 'Cons?" Hound asked.

"Speaking of the Decepticons, how many of them oppose you?" Prime cut in.

"Ah, there are… seven of them I think…" Optimus counted the Decepticons. "Megatron, Starscream, Cyclonus, Demolishor, Thrust, Tidal Wave and…" The Autobot trailed off and looked at Wheeljack. The engineer caught his glance and held it. They stared at each other for a moment, before Wheeljack gasped loudly in surprise and realisation.

"No… the last Decepticon isn't… can't be…"

Optimus sighed and nodded.  
The engineer grimaced. "Me…"

"WHAT?!"

- - -

Meanwhile, at the Decepticon's Headquarters, Megatron sat at the head of a long conference table, similar to where Optimus Prime was sitting at that exact moment, although neither leader knew it. Megatron was sitting alone, in the dark, his elbows resting on the table and his fingers steepled in front of his face.

"That Autobot…" He mused.

While observing the Autobot's battle with Menasaur, the silver Decepticon caught little snippets of conversation between him and Optimus Prime. Simple phrases and half sentences is all they were, and Soundwave could probe no further meaning from them than he could.

Megatron's train of thought lingered on Soundwave for a moment. When they had first confronted the New Autobot at the Ark, Soundwave had been there. The tall, dark blue mech was gifted with telepathy as his special power. Had he not thought of using his power while they were there and finding out who he was? Or, was he keeping the information from him? Megatron seethed at the mere thought of it.

No, he decided at length. Soundwave wasn't the type to do that. His powers made him a valuable asset, and his manner made him loyal. No, Soundwave wasn't keeping information from him… Not this kind of information, anyway…

- - -

The Autobots were in stunned silence; their stares switching from Prime to Wheeljack to Optimus then back again. Prowl especially was staring at Prime, as if to question the Autobot leader if his look-alike could be telling the truth. But Prime looked as shocked as everyone else. None of them could process what had just been said, least of all Wheeljack himself. How could he, Head Engineer of the Autobots, be a Decepticon? What could have provoked that? Was it the same as with Scavenger, who they all knew as a Decepticon, but the other Optimus Prime knew to be an Autobot?

Wheeljack shook his head, the action not breaking the stunned stillness that had befallen the room. There was more to it then they knew. If it was a simple matter of his faction being different in the other world, he knew the other Optimus Prime would not have been looking at him the way he was. If he were just another Decepticon, there would be more than simple caution in the mech's golden optics.

"There's…" Wheeljack started, the Autobots around him jumping at the sudden sound. "There's a story behind your Wheeljack, isn't there." The engineer said.  
The Autobots all looked at Wheeljack, wondering what he meant, before looking at Optimus to see how he responded.  
The Autobot nodded.

"It's true. He has got a story behind him. But that's not the problem. The problem that his friend, Hot Shot hasn't been able to put it behind him the way Wheeljack has. There's always a friction in the air when the two are near each other."

"Hot Shot was the name of one of your Autobots, wasn't he?" Bluestreak asked, speaking for the first time. "Why do you say they were friends, if Wheeljack is a Decepticon?"

Optimus looked down. "Wheeljack and Hot Shot, they were good friends, almost brothers. To begin with, Wheeljack was an Autobot," He paused as that statement caused many of the Autobots in the room to gasp. Strangely, Wheeljack did not seem surprised. "Wheeljack defected to the Decepticons when he thought Hot Shot had left him to die in a fire and Megatron saved him. I don't understand everything on either side, but Wheeljack has been able to put it behind him. Hot Shot has not."

There was another silence.

"Many of the names you've mentioned," Ratchet said. "I don't recognise many of them. It sounds like you have many people unique to your world as well as people who have a counterpart here."

Optimus nodded at the Medic's statement. "It is true. There are still a great deal of Autobots and Decepticons that I don't know, so I can not be sure if everyone in this world has a counterpart in mine, however, I know that every Autobot in this room has a counterpart in my world, but some in a different form."

None of the Autobots really understood what Optimus meant, but they had inkling. The sentence however, was taken as a cue by a smaller creature hiding under the table between Optimus' feet, and snuck around to behind Prime's chair, his lighter footsteps going unheard by the Autobots, and started to climb up the back of the Autobot Leader's chair.

"What exactly do you mean my 'a different form'?" Prowl asked, narrowing his optics at the Mech beside him. "Do you just mean they could be of a different faction, like Wheeljack, or whacked out like Sideswipe?"

Optimus saw Sideswipe bristle at the comment. He also saw Sunstreaker snicker quietly. He shook his head, more at the police car than at his question.

"I wouldn't call Sideswipe 'whacked out'." He said firmly, watching the young red Autobot near the end. "The Sideswipe in my world has the misfortune to be the youngest Autobot, no, the youngest of _either faction _anywhere in the universe. I do not know exactly when he was constructed, but he has not yet had the opportunity to mature, or receive any training. That is why he is the way he is, through no fault of his own. You have not met him, so do not ridicule him."

Prowl was taken aback by Optimus' unhesitant defence of the other world's Sideswipe. He stared at Optimus, whose look was as firm as the ones Prime would give him on occasion. It was a little unnerving, because it was just another way that he proved to be who he claimed to be.

Optimus gave Prowl a moment to consider what he had said before moving to answer his question.

"Your name is Prowl, correct?"

Prowl nodded.  
"You asked what I meant by 'a different form'…" He trailed off and glanced in Prime's direction. No matter how it looked, the shorter of the two was not looking at him, but rather, the small yellow mech who clung to the back of Prime's chair, ready to leap over at his partner's word. "Well, you yourself are a good example of someone with a different form. For you see, in my world, there are creatures that help us fight. They are human sized, roughly, but they have great power. We do not yet know the extent of what they can do."

Prowl opened his mouth to say something else, more likely than not, to ask for clarification, when a small yellow mech climbed onto Prime's shoulder from behind, and jumped forward, landing skilfully on the table between them all. Prime and Bumblebee were not surprised; they had seen the small mech before, but looked at him with interest all the same as he stood up straight smiled at the congregated Autobots, turned to Optimus and let out a series of computer sounds beeps and clicks.

Prowl gaped.

Ratchet looked at the small mech curiously before looking at Optimus, pointing down at the small mech and saying, "Explain."  
Optimus chuckled to himself.  
"His name is Sparkplug. I am told there is a Human here who uses that name, right?" Optimus looked sideways at Prime, who nodded in confirmation. Optimus nodded, and looked back at Sparkplug. "He is called a Minicon. They are the third faction of Transformers on my world's Cybertron."

"Did you say a _third faction?!_" Ironhide blurted out.

"I did. In fact the Minicons outnumber both the Autobots and the Decepticons by a great deal. There are a lot more of them than there are us."  
"He kinda looks like you, Bumblebee." Sideswipe commented, turning to look at the smaller Autobot.

"Yeah… kinda, now that I can see him up close…" Bumblebee smiled. He sort of liked the idea.

"You said that they are powerful. How can these little mechs be stronger than mech's our size? It just doesn't work that way." Sunstreaker pointed out.  
Optimus shook his head. "I didn't say _they_ were powerful. On their own, not many Minicons can hold their own against a larger Transformer. What I said was they _have_ great power. What makes them valuable is they have the ability to give us their power."

"Huh?"

Optimus looked thoughtful for a moment.  
"The Minicons are symbiotic. Most Minicons have Autobot or Decepticon partners, Sparkplug being my partner. They link themselves into our systems, flooding them with new power. We call it powerlinking. Some Minicons lend new abilities to their partners, like in Hot Shot's case, when his Minicon partner powerlinks with him, he can use the cannon in his back axel…"

Optimus stopped and looked at Prime, before sweeping his gaze around the room. Why was he giving them this information so freely? Was it because they were Autobots?

"Could Sparkplug powerlink with one of us do you think?" Prime asked.

Optimus shook his head. "I don't think so. In my world, Transformers are built with places for the Minicons to attach themselves. You and your Autobots probably don't have them."  
"Oh!" Ratchet said suddenly. "So, that's what those little ports were for!"  
Optimus nodded. "They're called Powerlink Points. Most Transformers have many of them, so they could have lots of Minicons linked at once. Megatron is a good example."

"What does your Megatron look like?" Prime asked. "I know from your reaction to seeing the Megatron here that he's not similar."  
"He's not. The Megatron in my world is very tall, with a green and purple colour scheme. His alternate mode is a heavy artillery tank. I couldn't figure out what your Megatron has for an alternate mode."

"He turns into a hand-held gun." Ratchet answered. "It's difficult to explain, but he can displace most of his mass to reduce his size. But his original Cybertronian alternate mode was a tank, if I remember right…"

There was a thoughtful silence.

"Well." Prime said finally. "I think for now, we've heard enough." He looked at Optimus. "Until we can figure out a way to get you back to your world, you are welcome to stay here. I think we would all appreciate your assistance in battle until then. But if you'd rather not…"

Optimus shook his head and rose from his chair. "If you want me to help you, I will. You've offered me your hospitality here, and I'll do my best to be useful to you."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After a few weeks, I finally get chapter 8 up. Sorry for the long wait everyone! Hope you're still liking the story!

Reviewers:

Stargirl101 – Well, here is the update you asked for! As for the Armada characters….. yeah, they might make another appearance…. ;P

SpartanCommander – Yep, I know, vaguely about Roller. He was mentioned in the guide, but I never payed much attention to it. A thing Prime can do that Optimus can't I guess.  
I've already got an ending in mind, so don't worry about that, but thanks for the idea.

CodeRed73 – How could he be anything BUT shocked? Heh heh. And yes, Rumble and Frenzy will need to be seen. I like them too. Sparkplug and Sparkplug will no doubt meet, but the human Sparkplug will have little luck trying to decipher what his Minicon counterpart is saying! He doesn't speak plain English after all…

Whitefang4ever – XD

Tahalli – Ah, sometime those five words can be more encouraging than a three page critique. Thanks Tahalli.

FK306 animelover – It's reading it you're supposed to enjoy! But I enjoy reading reviews, even if they are a touch confusing :D

Thatredcar – I'm more amused by the talk about themselves. I'm such a tease. XD

The Original Marisa – Glad to hear it!

Well, off to write and draw. Gotta put a bit of consideration on what should come next though… perhaps an Armada chapter, or a Decepticons chapter, or something like that. Hmmm….

Ja Ne!


	9. Something Unseen

Hot Shot winced as Red Alert accidentally nudged a sensitive neural cable in his arm.

"Hey, careful!" He spat.

Red Alert frowned, but shook his head. "Sorry."

Normally, the third-in-command and resident CMO would be put off if the young Autobot shot him a barb like that. But, in a way that only he could, Red Alert had noticed that, since Optimus disappeared, Hot Shot's personality had been becoming somewhat… nasty.

It was because Optimus was gone.

Normally, Optimus' mere presence was enough to keep Hot Shot's darker personality quirks under control. But with their leader missing, all the angst and rage that had been quietly festering away inside him was slowly seeping out.  
The medic looked up at Hot Shot as the yellow mech tilted his face towards the ceiling and sighed wistfully.

"Don't worry Hot Shot." He said, causing the Autobot to look at the medic curiously. "We'll find him eventually."

Hot Shot blinked his sky blue optics a few times. "How did… I didn't say anything about…"

Red Alert smiled. "You don't need to. Don't you think I've seen you enough times since 'it' happened to notice? You only sigh like _that_ when you're thinking about _him_."

Hot Shot looked down at his feet and frowned. "I didn't think I had slipped into a pattern."

"Everyone has them, Hot Shot." Red Alert said, continuing to repair the electronics in the mech's arm. "Jetfire goes for a long flight. Sideswipe plays with the humans and Minicons. Scavenger hits something. Smokescreen has too much High Grade and passes out. And that's only what they do when they're upset."

Hot Shot frowned. "Hey, you didn't say what Blurr's pattern is!"

"He made me promise not to tell anyone when he realised I'd figured it out."

"Aww, come on!"

"I swore I wouldn't!"

Hot Shot frowned, but the faintest hints of a smile were beginning to show.

"You're good at this." The warrior said finally.

"This?" Red Alert questioned.

Hot Shot smiled. "Making me feel better. Thanks."

Red Alert closed the final seam in Hot Shot's arm and smiled.

"Any time."

- - -

Sideswipe leant back in his chair with a sigh, and brought a hand up to cover his optics.

"I just don't understand it…" The young code breaker muttered. "I've gone over this data again and again… nothing seems to make sense."

A set of heavy footsteps alerted him to the presence of someone else, but Sideswipe did not move.

"Still at it, Sideswipe?" The tall white mech asked.

"Yeah. No matter how many times I look at it, this data always says the same thing; he was there, then he vanished, completely. It's no different than what anyone else would be able to get. Ughh… I feel like such a rookie."

Jetfire grimaced and stepped forward to lean a hand on the code breaker's shoulder.

"It's not your skills that's the problem 'Swipes." He said, the uncommon use of his nickname making the young mech look up in surprise. "I think it's the data you're using."

Sideswipe blinked. "What do you mean? I've got data from everyone at the time of the incident. How could the data be wrong?"

Jetfire held out a data disk, which Sideswipe promptly took from him.

"You could have done a better job of it than I did, but, I managed to pull the data from _after_ he vanished… when I managed to get him on the comm. for those few seconds. It's not much, but maybe you can do something with it."

Realisation dawned on Sideswipe's face.

"Jetfire, if this works, we might be able to finally find him!" He said, putting the disk into the computer console and running over the raw data with his sharp optics.

"Don't get too hopeful kid; it's probably not very good quality data, and there ain't a lot of it. But…"

"No… this is good, Jetfire. Data from when you were in contact… I might be able to pull a location from this… perhaps even coordinates!"

Sideswipe began typing madly, his ice blue optics reading and comprehending lines of data at a speed that Jetfire couldn't, even after this long, believe.

"I'll, ah… leave you to it then." He said, turning and exiting the room.

_I wonder if Smokescreen needs a drinking buddy…_ He thought.

- - -

After his conversation with Red Alert, Hot Shot decided to make it is personal mission to discover exactly what Blurr did when he was upset. Too bad for him that he wasn't all that good at being stealthy; the sniper found Hot Shot stalking him almost right away.

"Why are you following me?!" Blurr demanded.

Hot Shot recoiled. "Ahh… I'm not!" He attempted.

Blurr's optics burned angrily. "I've been moving erratically on purpose for the last half hour! You ARE following me!"

"Oh! Umm… ahh…"

"AAAAARRRGGGHH!!!" Blurr cried in frustration. "You're worse than Sideswipe!!!"

"Oh, snap." Hot Shot said.

- - -

Sideswipe worked solidly on Jetfire's data for days, hardly noticing as Autobots came and went, going on missions, heading on their way or returning. It was all just too fascinating to tear his optics away from. After a week, he thought he had some solid, useable data, even if it didn't make any sense.  
Bundling his findings onto a data disk, he left the Command Centre and headed for the med bay.

The medic was fixing a few of his older tools when the young mech came in.

"Oh, Sideswipe!" He exclaimed, seeing him.

"Hiya Red Alert. I gotta talk to you about this data that Jetfire gave me."

Red Alert nodded. "Jetfire mentioned that he gave you data from when he spoke to Optimus last. What did you find?"

"Well," Sideswipe said, strolling over to the med bay's main computer console and inserting the disk. "I'm not quite sure what I found. They look like coordinates, but I've double and triple rechecked, but they don't seem to be coordinates for anywhere on Earth. They're not coordinates for… _anywhere_."

Red Alert looked at the Data on the screen, although he wasn't sure why he bothered. This sort of thing was Sideswipe's speciality, not his, so if the young mech didn't get it, his chances of doing so were pretty slim.

"Hmm… Coordinates to nowhere." The medic mused. "That's odd. Have you tried putting them into the warp gate?"

"Several times. It just sputtered and blinded me with error messages before wiping the coordinates from itself."

Red Alert looked over the data again. True, most of it did look like coordinates. But, near the bottom, was another string of data, which looked much different. He pointed at the data.

"What about this here?"

"Oh, that is a old style IFF code… or, at least that's what it looks like. It looks like an Autobot code, but the numbers are more like a Decepticon code. It's all muddled."

"Have you tried this in the warp gate?"

Sideswipe blinked. "But… it's not coordinates!"

"You should know better than anyone, Sideswipe, 'Try Everything.' That's what makes code breaking… it's what make science. And it couldn't hurt just to try, right? I can always fix the warp gate."

Sideswipe looked at what he thought was an IFF code and his brain instantly went to the task of seeing if it could be rearranged into a set of useable coordinates. He smiled.

"You just might be right Red Alert!" He said excitedly. "I guess I still have a bit to learn."

Red Alert shook his head. "You're still young Sideswipe. You have a long way to go before you've experienced as much as me, even longer till you get to Scavenger's level. You may already be the best, but you can always find new ways to improve."

Sideswipe nodded, and ejected the data disk from the console. "I guess so. I'll take this down to the Warp Gate Station and see what I can do."

"I'll be down later." The medic said, returning to his tools. "If they are coordinates, then the others and I will want to see where they lead."

- - -

Meanwhile, far away from the Autobots' base, something strange was happening. Just past the outskirts of a large city, a large portion of the area bulged and contorted, as if something was squashing it, before going back to normal.

An hour later, it happened again. Then again. And again. And then, a long, thin vertical crack, ripped open, in the middle of nothing.

- - -

The other Autobots piled into the Warp Gate Station just as Sideswipe finished entering the last number of the IFF code into the gate.

"Did'ja get it Sideswipe?" Hot Shot asked.

Sideswipe turned to look at them. "I'm not sure yet bro'. But we're about to find out."

The blue Autobot turned back to the computer and hit a large red button labelled 'ENGAGE'.

The warp gate whirred to life, and the Autobots cheered. It looked like a success.

But then, nothing happened.

Quickly, Sideswipe double-checked the numbers he had used, but everything was correct. He frowned and shook his head.

"No…"

The Autobots looked at him curiously.

"Something… something is not right…"

"What's not?" Jetfire asked, watching as the younger mech walked away from the computer and into the middle of the Launch Dock at the other end of the room.

Sideswipe looked up at the end wall, where an image of their destination was normally displayed.

"Everything was correct." Sideswipe said quietly as the others walked over to stand closer to him. "All the data was accurate, the warp gate is working perfectly… yet we can't get this to work."

Blurr folded his arms and sighed. "There's something we're not seeing."

Sideswipe blinked. "Something… we're not… Hmmm…"

The young mech was suddenly graced with an idea, and he transformed. The other Autobots stepped back in surprise.

"Sideswipe?" Hot Shot said cautiously.

"Yeah?" The blue car answered. "What?"

"Why are you…?!" Hot Shot cut off as Sideswipe's outline shimmered and turned white. He was engaging the warp gate!

"Sideswipe!" Red Alert said in surprise. "What are you doing?!"

"Trying everything."

And then, Sideswipe was sucked into the warp gate and disappeared.

- - -

It was half an hour before the Autobots heard from Sideswipe again. He gave them all a start when his voice suddenly crackled over the Command Centre's speakers.

_/You guys? Hello? Can you hear me yet?\_

"S-sideswipe!" Hot Shot exclaimed happily.

"You're not dead!" Blurr added.

/_Oh thanks. I've been trying to contact you for ages! There must be some interference out here_…\

"Where are you 'Swipes?" Jetfire asked.

_/America, I think. There's a city nearby, but it's seems to be okay, and none of the humans have noticed what's out here… or me, so…\_

"What is out there, Sideswipe?" Red Alert asked. "What did you find?"

_/Well, to be honest, this doesn't fall in my field any more, Red Alert. Perhaps… perhaps you guys should come out here and have a look for yourselves. If the warp gate hasn't been touched, then you should be able to just warp over. \_

"But there's no destination set!" Smokescreen argued.

_/Sure there is! \_ Sideswipe said jovially. _/You just can't see it. I really think that…\_ Sideswipe trailed off.

"Sideswipe?" Hot Shot urged. "Sideswipe! You still there?"

/_Whoa that was weird. Yeah, I'm still here bro'. Now, I'm not kidding; you guys need to get out here…because I have no idea what's going on…\_

"Right. Sit tight Sideswipe! We're on our way!" Jetfire said, standing up and heading for the Warp Gate Station with the other Autobots not far behind.

- - -

When the Autobots exited the warp gate they were instantly greeted by an excited Sideswipe, who looked like he had fallen into several bushes, which was likely.

"There you all are!" He said, rushing over to them. "See I told you it would be okay!"

The Autobots grunted and looked around. Yes, they did indeed seem to be okay. And they also did seem to still be on Earth. Bonus!

"So, what's this thing that you don't know what it was?" Scavenger asked grumpily.

"It's over here…" Sideswipe said, pointing, before leading the way.

The Autobots followed, unsure what it was they would be seeing, when they stopped in their tracks.

There was a crack in the air.

"The… air is cracked?" Red Alert stuttered in disbelief.

"Mmmm… well that's what I thought." Sideswipe said, walking closer to it. "It looks the same no matter which direction you look at it from. But, if you come over here and look…"

Red Alert shuffled over and looked at it closely as Sideswipe indicated. His optics widened.

"There's… there's something in there!"

"What?!" The other Autobots' interest was sparked, and they all came close to look.

"Not just something… a whole lot of somethings!" Hot Shot exclaimed.

"A… a whole world!" Jetfire finished.

"But, how could there be a whole world inside this little crack?" Smokescreen asked, looking at Red Alert.

"Maybe there's not…" The medic suggested. "Maybe, there is another world, a parallel world to this one, and… I don't know, what are you asking me for?"

"You're the smartest." The orange mech said matter-of-factly.

Red Alert sighed.

"We got to this place using the data Jetfire gave me from when he was talking to Optimus last." Sideswipe said. "Perhaps this as close to Optimus' location as the warp gate could get us."

"So then, Optimus is around here somewhere!" Hot Shot said hopefully.

"Well maybe." Sideswipe returned. "But, really? I think he's in there." He pointed to the crack.

There was a silence.

Then, Hot Shot looked at the sky and sighed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Wah wah Waaaaaaah!

Yay! Armada boys chapter! And Sideswipe gets his moment in the sun! I like Armada 'Swipes, he is teh awesome.

Just so we're clear, codes, math, science and all that sort of stuff that Red Alert and Sideswipe do is completely beyond me, so, whenever that is going on, there will be mass ambiguity. And if it doesn't make sense (like how 'Swipes got coordinates from this 'data' Jetfire gave him) let's just pretend it works and move on, because I won't be able to make it make any more logical sense than I have already. I do try my hardest for this stuff to make sense though.

And I had to think of something semi-plausible. This semi-works, so it's all good.

Reviews of Fun:

Blue Storm Lightning Saix – And now, even more!

Whitefang4ever – Will do.

SpartanCommander – Heh, no much for no comments!

Yeah, Roller, as far as I understand is only a scout. But, seeing as I have never seen him before, there probably won't be any of him in this. Unless I see him before the end I guess.

As for Blaster and the Dinobots… yeah, something interesting could happen there.

Kaekokat – Glad to hear it! It wasn't actually my original intention to make Armada Prime younger; When I was writing the chapter that mentioned how long that Prime had been fighting for, I seemed to recall from the series Optimus telling the humans that the battle had been going on for four million years, but then, in one of the later episodes (that I have only just gotten possession of) Starscream mentions the war having lasted for over 10 mil, which would make it longer than the G1 war!

But Armada Prime sounds younger than G1 Prime, so it all works out in the end. Yay for accidental occurrences!

Emily – I'm happy to hear it!

Thatredcar – Heh heh heh… I feel sorry for Prowl. Well, at least he's not like Shockwave; Shockwave would physically implode I think. And don't worry, Soundwave will have his moment. XD

JML – Ah yes well, spelling and grammar are one of those touchy subjects you see, not because I'm bad at it, because I most certainly am not, but where I live, this is how it is done. Of course I will occasionally churn out the odd spelling error that Word misses, but that happens to the best of us.

About paragraphing, sorry if I've made it difficult for you. FanFiction does something to my paragraphing when I upload my documents, and this is my lame attempt to put it back the way it was. I'll just leave it from now on, and see if that's any better.

I wasn't aware that FanFiction 'nixed' reviewer responses in this way, and I have not read anywhere in the submitting guidelines that this is so. I know that we are not allowed to devote whole chapters to said responses, nor to Author notes. But as far as I know, this sort of thing done this way is permitted. However, if I am wrong, may the staff come and tell me so, and I shall stop.

And the title will make sense… eventually.

All hail the CMO!

Fk306 animelover – Oh, well good. At the rate things are moving, it won't be too much longer. Yes, Hot Shot is training Swipes, and yes, the poor mech does cop the most torture from the little guy. XD

Tahalli – Wait no more!

On a side note, thankyou to everyone who has pointed put my misspelling of the word 'gestalt'. Just to clarify, my weird little brain, when I first saw this word, pronounced it 'gesault' and then in turn, that's how I spelled it. Nowadays, I know better. Thanks for that, everyone.

Oh, and before I forget, a big apology to Ruby Autobot. I said that the Armada bots weren't going to have much to do in this story, but, thanks to a more recent brilliant idea, there's gunna end up being a lot more of them in here than I had first indicated. Sorry for the miss-leading information.

Well, that's all I have to say for now,

Ja Mata!


	10. Darkness Within

Optimus spent the next few days assisting the Autobots. He went into battle a few times, and was curious to see that the Decepticons were only attacking power plants, and other earth structures where energy was produced. The shorter Prime asked his counterpart about it, and was shocked to learn what state Cybertron was in… really, it was a little scary.

"You seem surprised." Prime said, looking across the table at his counterpart, who looked a little shaken. "It's not like that in your world?"

Optimus fiercely shook his head. "Nothing like it. Nothing like it." He said. "Granted, Cybertron _does_ look a little worse for wear, but not to the point of the Energon drying up!"

He shook his head and shuddered at the thought.

Prime blinked. Many of the things the younger of the two had learned during his time with them had caused surprise, worry, and in one case, just a tiny bit of panic. But this… this made him look terrified.

At first, Prime could not determine the cause for such terror. But then he remembered; his young counterpart's war had not been waging for as long as theirs. Their Cybertron had not been as badly damaged. Heck, it was still in its orbit for Primus' sake.

"But…" Optimus said finally, his voice a little shaky. "That doesn't explain why the Decepticons are attacking energy complexes."

Prime frowned behind his mask. "Megatron's ambition is to store up enough energy, destroy us, then return to Cybertron and use the stolen energy to recharge the planet."

Optimus made a surprised squeak.

"It… it almost sounds like a noble cause…" He said after a pause.

Prime blinked and stared at Optimus with very round optics. "What?"

"If… if it weren't for all the causing chaos on earth, stealing energy and killing off the Autobots, Megatron's cause would seem… quite noble…

Prime's optics widened a bit more. "You're mad…"

This time it was Optimus' turn to stare at the other with wide optics. "I beg your pardon?"

Prime shook his head and stood up, saying nothing.

Optimus frowned and also stood. "Are you trying to tell me that you don't give a scrap about Cybertron?" He demanded in his Autobot Commander voice.

"No, I'm not saying that."

"Then what _are_ you saying?!" Optimus asked, raising his voice without really meaning to.

- - -

Outside Prime's office, a red Autobot casually walked down the hallway. He had been on a mission away from the Ark since before Optimus arrived, and was not aware that there were in fact, _two_ Optimus Primes on base.

Simply put, he was more than a little surprised to hear the argument seep through Prime's door into the hall.

"I'm not saying anything!" He heard Prime say.

"Well fine, tell me this then," Said an unfamiliar voice. "Why is it you don't seem to be doing anything for Cybertron?"

Who was he arguing with, the Autobot wondered. Skyfire? No, he never raised his voice. Prowl? He'd never argue with Prime. Ratchet? Nah.

Who in blazes was it?!

"Optimus…"

The Autobot blinked in surprise, and stepped close to the door to listen. He had heard Prime call someone _else_ Optimus! He was sure of it!

"Don't try that with me! I've used that too many times on my own men to fall for it! Just admit it Prime, you don't care about Cybertron in the least!"

Eh? The Autobot blinked.

"Yo, Powerglide!" Said a new voice from further up the corridor.

The red Autobot snapped up. How shameful, being caught with an audio receptor against Prime's door. No matter how interesting the sounds coming through it, it was just rude… and bad enough to get him stationed in the Antarctic for the next two vorns. He looked up mournfully, but blinked to see Ironhide strolling towards him, a smile on his faceplate.

"Long time, no see bud!"

"Ironhide!" Powerglide hissed. "Come here and listen to this!"

Ironhide frowned as he came to a stop beside the lithe Autobot flier. "You're eavesdropping on Prime?"

Powerglide didn't answer. He didn't have to. A loud shout from the other side of the door did it for him.

"I do care!" It was Prime's voice. "But you of all mechs should know just what kind of slag I have to handle! There are more important things for me to worry about!"

"That's no excuse! You could still be doing _something!_ For all the free time you have you could be thinking of _something_. You bloody well DON'T care, and none of your Autobots seem rightly worried about it either! I might as well be with the Decepticons!"

The two red Autobots in the hall froze and heard Prime gasp. Ironhide was the only one of the two who knew just how much weight that last statement held.

"Sweet Primus…" The older Autobot muttered to himself.

"You… you can't mean that…." Prime stuttered out. "_You_ can't mean that!"

"I never say anything I don't mean, and you know it!"

"But it's just a planet for crying out loud!"

There was an uneasy pause.

"Just a… It's more than that! It's our home!"

"_Our_ home, not yours."

Silence.

Ironhide's optics went wide. Powerglide blinked. Whomever Prime was arguing with seemed to have been halted… and didn't, by the sounds of it, seem to be Cybertronian. Robotic certainly. But not from Cybertron?

The two red Autobots jumped back as the door hissed open and a red and blue mech stormed out, before walking briskly down the hall. Prime appeared at the door to his office and looked down the hall after the younger Autobot.

"Optimus!" He called.

"Shut up!" Came the sharp reply as Optimus vanished from sight.

Prime grimaced and sighed.

"Man." Ironhide said, making the Autobot Commander snap around in surprise. "The guy has a bit of a temper." The veteran looked at Prime. "He's not a whole lot like you after all, huh."

"You heard that?"

"Most of it, sir." Powerglide said quietly. "I'm sorry, we shouldn't have listened in…"

"'Glide, you may a'noticed that they were yellin' pretty loud. It's a wonder the whole staff ain't here." Ironhide huffed.

Prime shook his head.

"What was that about anyway, Prime?" The red Autobot asked, looking down the hall after Optimus. "He seemed right upset about somethin'…"

"Cybertron." Prime said, rubbing the back of his neck. "He seemed offended that I'm not putting any thought towards fixing it, like Megatron is."

"He's not seriously goin' to defect, is he?!"

"Primus, I hope not."

"Optimus Prime the Decepticon… it just doesn't sound right."

"Eh?!" Powerglide exclaimed. "I don't understand! You weren't talking about Prime, Ironhide. Prime isn't... _wouldn't_ consider defecting to the Decepticons!"

Prime placed a hand on the plane's shoulder. "You've missed a lot while you were away from the Ark, Powerglide."

And the tall Autobot began to explain.

- - -

Sparkplug had been hanging out with Bumblebee and Spike when Optimus careened past, looking more annoyed and hurt than the Minicon had seen him for years. He beeped an apology to his companions that they didn't understand and ran after his partner.

(Optimus?) He beeped, running to keep up with the larger mech's fast pace. (Are you okay?)

"I'm fine!" Optimus snapped, his voice poisonous.

Sparkplug paused, and watched the Autobot walk away from him. (Yeah, right Optimus.)

Ratchet peeked out of the Med Bay door as Optimus strode past, hearing him snap at his tiny partner. He frowned and looked down at the Minicon.

"He seems upset." He said dully, and Sparkplug looked up at him in surprise.

(Optimus _is_ upset, Ratchet. He's very upset.)

Ratchet frowned. Partly because of the way the smaller mech communicated, and partly because he thought he recognised his name amongst those beeps.

"He's lost everything." The CMO stated. "He's lost everything. Not even an Optimus Prime… could handle that without flinching."

Sparkplug looked back down the hallway as his partner disappeared.

(You might be right, Ratchet… You might be right…) Again, the medic recognised the beeps that formed his name. (I've lost everything once too. And I'm not losing my partner again.)

The Minicon got a determined look on his faceplate and bolted down the hall after Optimus Prime.

Ratchet sighed. "I hope they find what they're looking for." He said quietly, slinking back inside his domain.

- - -

Optimus kept storming until he was halfway through the canyon that lead to the Ark. He let out a pained groan, mingled with a spark-felt sigh, and stopped, before turning to one side and leaning his back against the canyon wall.

"Can't believe I just did that…" He sighed.

Then, as he looked up, the errant Autobot Commander spotted a small path, heading up and beyond the canyon walls. Curious, he pushed away from the rock and followed it.

He never noticed the small yellow car following him from behind, or the black mechanical bird following overhead.

- - -

"Megatron, Laserbeak reports that the strange Autobot is leaving the Ark, unescorted." Soundwave droned.

"Is he?" Megatron mused. This could be his chance! He could corner the Autobot, where Prime and his weakling warriors would not be able to interfere! This was his chance to find out who he was!

Megatron frowned. If the Autobot hadn't been willing to say his name or rank before, he certainly wouldn't now, seeing how much like Prime he was. He'd need to take Soundwave with him, then.

But another thought lingered at the side of his mind. An unpleasant thought, truly, even by his standards. But, regardless, it had merit; in its own, sick twisted way.

This Autobot had been far too much of a problem. And was far too interesting to outright destroy. Megatron sighed to himself inwardly. He never had been able to pass up the opportunity to improve his already vast store of information about warfare. And the Decepticon General was sure that this enigmatic Autobot held a wealth of information on that particular topic. He was not much of an Autobot as far as he knew Autobots, and that was interesting.

He nodded. Unpleasant as it was, that little thing would make his job a lot easier… and that particular old associate of his would be happy to help out. Or in the very least… could be pressured into helping.

The Decepticon leader indulged himself in a self-satisfied evil smile, and strode off to his personal quarters, to make a private call.

- - -

"… How nice of you to actually answer your vid phone. It's been a while, Victor."

"Feh, not long enough if you want my opinion..."

Before Megatron was the sight of an aged, cybernetically modified human.

Dr. Victor Archeville, since the days of his initial aiding of the Decepticons and his subsequent imprisonment on the planet had been in the 'employ' of his former partners, lending his unbelievable scientific talents to the Decepticons. Most of the gadgets that the alien conquerors had used in their many failed attempts to dominate the Doctor's home world had been of his own design. He had even been set free from the automated chair he had been strapped to after his reconstruction at the hands of Starscream. Behind the grizzled cyborg was a darkened laboratory, formerly the Air Commander's private lab (given to Archeville as a means of infuriating the egocentric seeker).

Archeville kept his gaze trained on Megatron. "But I digress. What can I do for you, Megatron?"

Megatron's left optic twitched momentarily, but smiled with diplomatic politeness none-the-less.  
"I need some of your equipment, Victor. Something to suppress an Autobot's weapons, and a few other functions as well."

The Decepticon General paused, and considered the part metal human carefully. "Surely," He said slowly. "From your little burrow there, you have seen and heard of this new Autobot that we have been pitted against?"

Archeville nodded. "Indeed I have, Mighty Megatron." he smirked a little, performing this act of insolence only because the Decepticon commander could not reach him. "Very curious, how similar he appears to Optimus Prime. Perhaps he is the latest model, hmm?"

He turned around and vanished off screen, the sounds of equipment being moved around and faint cursing being heard. Archeville appeared onscreen again, lugging with him what appeared to be a large, Cybertronian-scale band.

"THIS is my latest device in the field of Autobot suppression. It renders the target incapable of onboard weaponry use, vehicle mode operation, onboard communication systems, and sub-spacing capacity." He patted the thing proudly, a wicked gleam in his bionic eye. "All you need do is attach it to a limb. An arm, a leg, a neck... it makes no difference, the result shall be the same."

Megatron looked at the band on the screen and shuddered inwardly, knowing full well that it would work just as effectively on a Decepticon as on an Autobot. Archeville tended to do things like that.

"Very impressive, as always, Victor. Only the one shall suffice, I believe." Megatron said, privately disgusted by the thing.

"Very well then." Archeville took some triumph from the fact that he could disturb the ancient warrior so. Given his current life condition, it was all that he had to prevent himself from going insane.

Well, more insane, anyway.

"I'm curious Megatron, what exactly do you intend to do with this mystery Autobot?"

"I don't quite see why it's any of your business, Victor, but perhaps this once I shall indulge you." Megatron said, closing his optics.  
"This Autobot, as I am sure you are aware, has many unusual and powerful weapons, and strange abilities as well. In addition to the fact that not a single mech in my ranks has the slightest idea as to who he is, the extent of these abilities is unknown. It is my intent to remedy that." He opened his optics again and their red light burned at the scientist on the screen. "I will drain him dry of information and dispose of him. But we shall have no use for his shell. Perhaps you would want it?" He suggested.

Archeville put a metallic hand to his chin in consideration.

"Hmm... Yes, as a matter of fact, I would have use for his shell. Thank you for offering my lord." Archeville bowed his head respectively. Then he faced the warlord once again.

"Tell me... has Starscream been giving you any trouble over this? Because as you know, I have many devices here that could teach that imbecile some manners..."

Megatron couldn't help but smirk a little at the thought of making the Air Commander's life that much harder.

"No." He said at length. "Starscream has been... unusually cooperative in this case. He took quite a beating from this Autobot and hasn't quite lived it down." He sighed. "I feel he won't be happy till the Autobot's secrets are common knowledge, and the Autobot himself done away with. He has, however been begging me to be the one to deliver the final blow, but that is reserved for me."

He looked up at the screen once more. "I want your opinion, Victor, on one particular one of that Autobot's abilities." He said solemnly.

Archeville bit back the urge to say something smarmy, aware that if Megatron couldn't hurt him, Shockwave still could.

"Very well. Which ability?"

"Have you ever seen any kind of device that can form spheres of energy in the air?" Megatron asked, his voice cold. "He created a sphere of energy, in the air, with his hands."

Archeville put a hand to his chin, closing his eye as he tried to recall... ah yes, that was it! He opened his sole organic eye and refocused his attention on Megatron.

"In theory, there could exist devices capable of drawing ambient energy from the air and channelling it, even giving it shape and form; like a more advanced version of my exponential generator. However, I have not actually SEEN such a device in action... created a sphere of energy with his bare hands, you say? That is... most disturbing news."

Megatron shook his head. "Oh, it gets better, old friend." He said. "Not only did he do it with his hands, but he did it instantly."

Archeville bit back a harsh retort at being called "friend", memories of Megatron's fool scheme to gain Energon via the near destruction of Earth still fresh in his mind after so many years. At the mention of the mystery-bot's ability however, he did have the good sense to look shocked.

"Instantly?! Megatron, are you positive you need only one suppressor?" he jutted a thumb in the direction of the aforementioned suppressor.

Megatron sighed. "Yes, _instantly._ Like this." The silver Decepticon mimicked the action that had formed the sphere, clapping his hands together in the direction of the screen.

The Decepticon shook his head. "However, I think just the one will do. I have seen the effects of your earlier efforts, Victor, and they were more than enough. This," And he gestured towards the band on the screen with the cannon on his right arm. "Should be sufficient. At least to disable him enough so he is no longer a threat."

Megatron looked at the scientist carefully. "I can tell from your expression that your interest in this Autobot has been… peaked." He said, raising his optic ridges slightly.

No matter how much Archeville's inventions and overall dislike for his species sent shivers to his core, the warlord had a sort of odd respect for the cybernetic old man. He was, simply put, really the only one who was as fond about discovering new technologies and weapons as much as Megatron himself.

"Yes, I should say so," the old scientist nodded. "After all, not only does this Autobot possess technology that no one has ever seen before, he also bears such an uncanny likeness to your age old foe. It begs so many questions. Who gave him this technology? Was he built with it, or was it an enhancement? And why does he look so much Optimus Prime? Their designs are so similar; I could almost say that they were like brothers..." He didn't add his desire to dissect the mystery bot and discover the true depths of his technology; he knew that Megatron would never allow _him_ to be the one to uncover the secrets that the Prime look-alike may have contained.

Megatron nodded. "Indeed. But there are other things about him that are strange as well, Victor. For example, he didn't seem to know who I was."  
Anticipating that the scientist was going to ask for him to clarify, the Decepticon held up a holodisk. "This holds footage from our first battle with this Autobot. I'm sure you'll be interested to see it."

Megatron inserted the disk into a nearby console, and turned the screen so Archeville could see it.

It flicked on, just in time to see Megatron fire a blast that tore through the Autobot's fingers, sending his large, black barrelled gun, not unlike Optimus Prime's own, flying across the battlefield.

"What say you now Autobot?" Megatron on the screen asked. "Now what will you do?"

"You know," The Autobot said, looking up at Megatron as sparks danced between his fingers. "You're much too much like Megatron for my taste!"  
The Autobot clapped his hands together in Megatron's direction and the sphere was formed, shooting forward and connecting with Megatron's chest.

Megatron turned off the video.  
"So Victor..." The Decepticon said darkly. "What do you think of this new Autobot?"

Archeville's eye widened at what the Autobot had said. Too much like MEGATRON...

Then, it hit him.

"I think I know why he looks so much like Optimus..." he said suddenly.

Megatron raised an optic ridge. "Then enlighten me, Victor." He ordered.

"The reason he LOOKS like Optimus, is because he _is_ Optimus... just another version of him." The scientist clarified.

Before Megatron could ask, he continued on.

"It has long been theorized that there exist alternate realities, timelines where things turned out differently then in our own. He is a variable, what could have been... and apparently, it would seem that you are plagued by Optimus Prime no matter what timeline." He chuckled darkly at that last bit, greatly amused by the idea that Megatron couldn't beat that goody two-shoes Prime in this or any other dimension apparently. He wondered what his alternate was like...

"But then that would suggest that, in this other world, Autobots are constructed with many powerful weapons integrated into their systems." Megatron argued. "As a leveller, one can only presume that the Decepticons are even more so."

"Oh, I would wager that to be the truth, since we are talking about universal constants." Archeville nodded. "Just as Optimus remains driven by moralistic drivel, then it can be safely said that the Decepticons of his dimension are much more heavily armed. But then again, maybe not." Archeville added slyly. "After all, it IS an alternate universe, and ultimately I cannot accurately predict what will be similar and what will be different. Who knows, maybe HIS Autobots are winning the war."

Megatron growled at the thought.  
"Well, we'll soon know." He said. "I am taking Soundwave to confront this mech. Familiar as you are with his abilities, I'm sure you realise what that implies."

"But of course." Archeville grinned in sadistic joy. "You know, I've been working on something to mimic Soundwave's unique capabilities... I was hoping you'd let me use Starscream as a test subject, but then I recalled that in order for it to work the intended victim must have a sentient mind."

Megatron coughed back an approving laugh at that comment. "Yes, well." He said. "If he IS from another reality, then there are some other questions as well. How is it that he came here? Why? Could there be more Autobots coming? It is worrying. Especially if Soundwave can not gleam satisfactory information from this possible Optimus Prime."

Archeville put a hand to his chin. "If that is the case, then I suggest you prepare for the worst. But take heart; Soundwave has yet to fail you, and I somehow doubt that this Optimus Prime is less vulnerable to telepathy then the usual one you deal with."

"Perhaps. But as you yourself said before, it is impossible to predict." Megatron said.

The Decepticon general leaned back in his chair a little. "I'll send Skywarp over to collect the suppressor shortly Victor." He said in closing.

Archeville grimaced a little, not at all pleased with the idea of being around Skywarp. But, there was little he could do.

"By your command," Archeville bowed his head respectively, then gave a salute. "Decepticons Forever!"

Megatron turned off the vid screen.

- - -

Optimus followed the path up the canyon wall and along it, then followed it down, as it dipped down into a wide crevasse. Looking around, it reminded the red and blue Autobot of the place where Sparkplug's Minicon Panel had been hidden.

Overcome by a sudden wave of grief, remorse and shame, coupled with an odd sensation, one he had no definition for, which wasn't an emotion and wasn't a physical feeling, Optimus Prime dropped to the stone floor and curled into a ball.

"What is… wrong with me?" He said out loud.

- - -

"Is he still there?"

Wheeljack nodded, looking up from Teletran1's monitor. "Yes sir. He's still just lying there."

Ratchet looked at the readings on the monitor and frowned. "He's not dead at least."

Prime grimaced. "Thankyou Ratchet, that is so reassuring." He said flatly. Optimus Prime couldn't do sarcastic, but he could do flat.

"Sorry, I was just sayin'." The CMO said, moving away from the monitor.

"I can't understand it." Wheeljack said, shaking his head. "He just dropped and curled up. As if he were a frightened child."

"In truth, Wheeljack…" Prime said, his voice heavy. "He really still is."

"What does that mean?"

Prime looked guilty for a moment. He never lied, and it wasn't often he withheld information. But he had in this case, and felt worse off because of it.

"He told me… _admitted_ to me, that his war has not been as lengthy as ours. His war has only just reached five million years, and he is only six million years old himself."

"We're all older than that by miles!" Ratchet exclaimed. "For the greater part, most of us were three, four million years old when the war started, and that's only just come adolescence! If he's only six mill, then…!"

Wheeljack shook his head in disbelief. "Then he's only recently come out of adolescence. How, by Primus, did he get to his position at a million years of age?"

"I can't answer that Wheeljack."

There was a silence.

"I worry about that Autobot." Prime said sadly.

"That Autobot…" Powerglide said suddenly, making all heads snap around to look at the aeroplane, having not realised he was in the room. "He's not much on an Autobot."

"What do you mean?" Wheeljack asked.

Powerglide frowned and leant back in his chair, putting his arms behind his head. "Even for Autobots of his age… it's unusual to be built with so many weapons integrated into your system."

"He's the Commander, Powerglide." Ironhide huffed.

"So is this Prime standing here, but he doesn't have weird weapons and freaky powers coming out his audios, does he?"

Wheeljack and Ratchet mumbled an agreement.

Prime frowned.

"And… his optics are gold."

Ironhide blinked in surprise. "What does that have to do with it?"

"Autobots have blue optics. Decepticons have red. Neutrals more have greens and purples, but a few of the 'Cons have those colours too."

"Powerglide, the colour of his optics is not important." Prime said.

"Isn't it?" The plane returned. "I say it is; I've used it to determine which mech belongs to which faction before any insignia is made visible, or IFF is made available, dozens of times. It's never wrong Prime. Not _once_ have I been wrong using it."

The Autobots mulled over the information.

"Perhaps, in his universe it doesn't work that way. Maybe, where he is from, Autobots have gold optics." Prime suggested.

"Or, he's not as Autobot as we have been led to believe." Powerglide continued. "He might not be Optimus Prime. He might not even be an Autobot. He could have lied to us."

The other Autobots pondered this possibility. After all, he didn't seem to be a whole lot like their Optimus Prime.

Prime however, didn't agree with Powerglide's theory. The strange mech was most certainly Optimus Prime. He knew things only the Prime could know. He had the same precious Matrix of Leadership hidden in his chest, right near his spark.

The Autobot Commander blinked in surprise and stood bolt upright. He had just realised something! The other Autobots looked at him curiously.

"Prime?" Ratchet said gently. "What's… wrong?"

"I don't believe I don't think of it before…" The Prime muttered. "The reason he was acting so strangely…"

"Prime?" Wheeljack urged.

Prime looked around at the Autobots. "I'm going out there." He said. "I have to talk to him again."

- - -

Sparkplug transformed into mech mode and walked up to his partner where he lay. The Minicon hadn't seemed to notice that the normally very strong Autobot was having an emotional breakdown. He strolled casually up to Optimus and gently rested his hand on the big mech's helmet, feeling him jump slightly.

(It's okay, Optimus.) The Minicon beeped. (You stay there till you feel better.)

Optimus shuddered slightly. Had he started to feel better? At all? Lying there had eliminated the possibility of him falling over and hurting himself, but it didn't make him feel any _better_. The odd feeling welling up in his chest just behind the Matrix had not yet faded.

Suddenly, Optimus sat bolt upright, making Sparkplug jump back in surprise. "The…Matrix…"

He hadn't considered it before. Could the Matrix be making him feel this odd way?

The red and blue Autobot quickly looked around for any sign of life around him, got onto his knees and, leaning forward a bit, opened his chest compartment, and took the Matrix out, holding it under him. The moment it was no longer resting against his body, the odd feeling started to fade, and he started to feel normal again. "So it was the Matrix… doing that to me…"

Sparkplug edged closer and looked at the important object, frowning.

(What's it… doing?) He asked.

Optimus looked at it was well. It was flickering oddly.

"I don't know Sparkplug. Perhaps it is reacting to the other one in this universe."

(The other one! Prime's one!)

Optimus nodded and carefully put the Matrix back inside his chest, grunting as the feeling returned, and slumping back down onto the ground.

(You have to keep it there though, huh.) Sparkplug said with a sigh.

"I do… I must keep it… even though it… is making me feel… so strange…"

(Have you figured out what the feeling is?) The smaller mech asked.

"No… I can't think well enough to…"

(Hmmmm…) Sparkplug mused. (Well… when you were angry before, you felt really, _really_ angry… right?)

"Yes…"

(And now, you feel really, _really_ bad… depressed? Self-loathing or whatever?)

Optimus grimaced. "Yes…"

(Perhaps it's amplifying your emotions? Whatever you feel, it kicks it into the extreme?)

Optimus was quiet.

(You hate it when I'm right, don't you?) The Minicon smirked.

"Yes. But in this case… it might explain this feeling… and I might be able to explain it to Prime… and he might forgive my behaviour…"

(I'm sure he will. He might even agree with us. You never know unless you try.)

Optimus blinked and sat up. Everything seemed eerily calm all of a sudden. He looked around.

(Optimus? What's wrong?)

"Something… isn't right…" He muttered.

Suddenly, a purple seeker appeared out of nowhere, and slapped a silver band around his arm.

"Ha ha! Easy!" The seeker said, standing upright and looking proud of himself.

Optimus stared at the seeker, before looking at the band. He reached forward to pull it off, and it crackled, spitting sparks off in every direction. Optimus cried out. The thing was interfering with his internal systems! The band sparked a little more, and power flickered through the red and blue mech's body, seeping out of his fingertips.

The purple seeker backed away a little.

"Is… is it supposed to do that?" He muttered to himself.

(What the hell is it?! What did the seeker do?!) Sparkplug beeped hysterically.

"It…. It's disrupting… my systems!" Optimus managed, before letting out another cry as a spike of power resonated through his CPU.

(O-optimus…) Sparkplug said, feeling helpless. Then, the Minicon's expression changed, and he leapt at the purple seeker, and clung to his face, beating his small fists into the seeker's optics. (You slimy slagging bastard! Get that thing off my partner, NOW!!!) He screeched.

The seeker stumbled back. "What the hell is this thing?! Ahh! It's on me! Get it off!" he cried, flailing his arms around a little before the idea to reach up and pull the smaller mech off his faceplate actually occurred to him. Once it did, he did so, holding the yellow mech by a piece of metal on his back. Sparkplug kept swinging his fists in the seeker's direction, perfectly enraged.

(I'm gunna kick your Decepticon butt, you no good slagger!) He proclaimed, among other things.

"Man, what IS this little thing?" The seeker wondered, peering at him.

Suddenly, something cast a shadow over them all. The seeker froze, and looked up. Sparkplug and Optimus also did so.

Two mechs were standing on the hill behind them. Two Decepticons.

"Megatron!" The seeker exclaimed.

Optimus blinked. The pain from the strange band was wearing off, but his body's functions were not returning. Transformation, weapons, subspace (not that he used it, but still) were no longer available to him. He couldn't even feel the familiar tingle behind his fingertips from the energy generators in his hands anymore.

The Autobot stood.

"Don't get up on my account, Autobot." Megatron sneered.

Optimus huffed, but raised no comment. Sparkplug however, had other ideas.

(Just because you're a sleazebag doesn't mean he should be!) Plus other assorted Cybertronian curse words that the Tyrant would not have understood came out of the little mech's vocals. Even Optimus didn't fully understand Minicon curses.

Megatron raised an optic ridge at the smaller creature. "That is the small mech your cassettes found." He said, looking at the mech beside him. "Is it a cassette?"

The blue mech shook his head. "It is not a cassette."

_Cassette?_ Optimus thought. _What is a cassette?_

Megatron shrugged, and leaped down to stand at the same level as Optimus and the purple seeker.

"Skywarp. Leave that thing and return to the Nemesis." He commanded.

"Yes sir." The seeker let go of the Minicon and vanished, appearing again a little distance away, before vanishing again.

Megatron looked down at the unusual Autobot before him. It felt so much like one of his many confrontations with Prime that it took all of the Decepticon General's will not to leap at his throat.

"I want your name and rank, Autobot."

(Go to the Pit!) Sparkplug grumbled, pulling himself to his feet after being unceremoniously dropped by the seeker Skywarp.

"I'm not going to give you either, Megatron." Optimus said stubbornly, his voice echoing with a different tenor, no doubt from the suppressor on his left arm, Megatron reasoned. "It's not any of your business, and it would only serve to confuse you."

"We can do this without the dry wit, Autobot. You are, for the better point, helpless. That band on your arm will suppress your functions and weapons for as long as it's there, and I think you'll find it's quite impossible to remove."

(Nothing short of removing your whole arm will get it off is what he means.) Sparkplug beeped, looking up at his partner before running to him and climbing up onto the larger mech's shoulder.

Megatron growled. He could not understand the beeping language of the smaller mech. But the Autobot seemed to be able to. Just another thing he must find out from this Autobot.

"Name and rank Autobot!" He demanded. "Even if you don't give it up, I shall take it!"

"Go right ahead and try." Optimus said calmly.

Megatron smirked and looked up at the blue mech on the hill. Optimus followed his gaze. He had never seen a mech who looked like that before. He was kinda creepy…

The blue mech looked down at Optimus and a high pitched screech started ringing inside the Autobot's head. He grasped his head with both hands. "Ahhh…" He grunted.

Megatron's optic ridges raised in surprise. This Autobot… could _feel_ Soundwave reading his mind? No, it couldn't be. It must be a reaction to Archeville's suppressor... yeah, that had to be it.

"Stop it..." The Autobot grunted, looking up at Soundwave.

Megatron blinked. Or not. This Autobot really _could_ feel it! Could he really be another world's Optimus Prime like Archeville thought? Could he be that powerful?

"Stop it!" The Autobot said again, this time his voice louder, but a dark growl.

Soundwave wasn't feeling so sure about this anymore. The Autobot could feel his telepathic probing, which was weird enough… but the information he was getting was not… to his liking. He blinked his red optics as sparks started dancing off the ends of the Autobot's fingers.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" The Autobot roared, swiping his hands in Soundwave's direction. A wave of white energy ripped out of the Autobot's hands and a moment later, collided with Soundwave, sending him flying backwards. Megatron stepped back in surprise and gasped. He… overpowered Archeville's suppressor!?!

Although he was sure the blue mech didn't mean to do it, Megatron sensed a telepathic "OW" from Soundwave.

The Decepticon General looked back at the strange Autobot. His torso was rising and falling, as if he were breathing heavily, and his hands were still sparking wildly. What kind of Autobot WAS this?

Then, something strange started happening. As Megatron looked, the Autobot's colour started changing. The brilliant red and deep blue of his armour started wisping off… like licks of smoke. Underneath, was deep crimson, black, and night blue. The Autobot grunted and flinched, shutting his optics. He stood like that until his entire original colour disappeared, then, slowly, he opened his optics again.

Megatron's jaw fell open.

"You…"

"M-Megatron!" Soundwave said weakly. "The… Autobots… are approaching…!"

Megatron hissed. "Retreat!" And the two took of and vanished into the sky.

Optimus looked up after them. He wasn't quite sure what he should do about that. Megatron was getting away… again… as usual. Eh, who cares?

"Optimus!" Called a voice from the canyon. "Are you alright? Optimus!" It was Prime.

The other Autobot commander came running up the path and stopped a short distance away. Ratchet and Prowl were behind him.

They stared.

"Optimus…" Prime said quietly.

Suddenly, a blast struck the ground near Optimus, causing him and the other Autobots to jump. They looked up, and saw Powerglide hovering above, frown on his face and gun pointed at Optimus.

"_I knew it_!" The red plane declared angrily. "I knew he couldn't be an Autobot!"

"P-Powerglide!!" Prowl exclaimed. "What in Cybertron's name do you think you're doing?!"

"Didn't I tell you? Autobots have blue optics, Decepticons have red. This, 'Optimus Prime' is no more than a slagging Con!" He fired again, missing as Optimus took a few steps to the side.

"What does… he mean by…" Optimus cut off and blinked in realisation. "Primus no…"

(Your optics… they're not gold anymore Optimus…) Sparkplug said quietly, still clinging to his partner's shoulder. What ever had changed Optimus' colouring seemed to have affected the Minicon a little as well; he now had wisps of black paint caressing his arms and torso, and his legs were completely back, making the yellow that remained seem all the more brighter. (…They…. They're red…)

"Powerglide! Stand down! That's enough!" Prime boomed.

"But Prime!"

"That's an ORDER!"

Powerglide glared at Optimus and slunk back.

Prime sighed and stepped closer to the now black Autobot in front of him. He didn't look like a Decepticon, save his optic colour. His Autobot logo still glared out at them from his shoulder… more so now that it was surrounded by black rather than red. His face and construction hadn't changed. But, even though he hadn't changed, Prime could tell that the younger mech was now frightened of them... of _him_.

"Optimus?" He said gently. The black Autobot took a few steps backwards. Prime flinched. "Optimus…" He held a hand out towards the younger mech.

Optimus flinched and turned on his heel, bolting out of sight.

"Optimus!" Prime called, but made no move to go after him. What would it achieve anyway? If he were to chase him, Prime would only frighten him more.

Ratchet stepped up to stand next to Prime. "Now what do we do?" He asked.

Prime sighed.

"I guess we just… leave him alone… until he realises that… we're no threat to him."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

XD

And there goes chapter 10! I hope you liked it, and I hope you forgive me for taking so flipping long to get it finished and up here. Ah well. Time for some A/N:

IFF: Identification: Friend or Foe

Basically, it's reading the energy signature of another mech to determine wether they are Autobots or Decepticons. I think …most Bots and Cons in G1 have IFF equipment installed inside them, and I guess the Armada guys must have some version of IFF or another.

Also, I didn't really mean for Powerglide to be such an ass. It probably suits Sunstreaker better than 'glide, but I just wanted a flier in here. I like mechs that can fly.

Reviews:

Tahalli – XD

JMC – I guess so… but I'm lazy. And I figure if I can do this decently without it, I should be okay. But, I could always research something if I really wanted to go authentic. XD

SpartanCommander – Maybe be… XD

Storm Blue Lightning Saix – XD So it was!

Fk306 animelover – Right!

TransHinageshi – XD Glad to hear it!

RoseGad – Those things are everywhere huh? XD

PrimeTouch – Actually, I did. Back when Optimus was explaining about his second transformation configuration, he mentions that it is something both he and Jetfire have, so they can 'fight as one'. It's not a direct explanation, but its there.

Also, I'd like to heap praise and thanks onto my good friend Vehicon, who helped me with the Archeville sequence.

Well, till next time,

Iniku

PS. Btw, today's A/N and reviewer responses only takes up less than a page in a 16 page document! XD


	11. The Final Confrontation

Optimus growled and thrust his fist into the rock, splintering it.

"Damn it!"

(Come on Optimus, try to calm down.) Sparkplug urged.

The Minicon was sitting on a part of the rock surrounding them, looking down at his emotionally unstable partner.

"How can I?" Optimus asked the smaller mech. "Because of this--" He held up his arm to thrust the suppressor in Sparkplug's direction. "-- I don't have any weapons and I can't transform! And because of the…" he put a hand to his chest. "… I can't even control my own emotions any more! I'm _useless!_"

Sparkplug frowned, and jumped down from the rock to stand on the bit of metal jutting out at the top of his partner's chest. The Minicon drew a fist back and belted Optimus in the face as hard as he could. Optimus recoiled. It hadn't hurt a lot, but having never expected Sparkplug to ever try to hit _him_, it came as a bit of a shock.

(Primus Almighty, Optimus!) The Minicon huffed. (I thought you were stronger than this!)

"…but…"

(Shut up!) Sparkplug calmed himself down with a sigh and moved onto Optimus' shoulder. (Look, I know this is all whacked up. But, you still have your fists and feet to work with, and I seem to recall your energy projectors kicking that blue Decepticon to the Pit, regardless of the suppressor."

Optimus blinked his red optics and looked at the band on his arm. "But… I shouldn't be able to…"

(Well, maybe you just can't feel it. It certainly worked. Or maybe there was a lot of built up energy in your hands already, and you just let it out. Maybe they don't work now. I don't know. But for Primus' sake, calm down. You know that your emotions run out of control here, so you got to work harder to keep them in check!)

Optimus leant against the rock and slid down it to the ground with a groan. "Sparkplug… I just…"

(I know.) Sparkplug said, gently putting a hand on the side of Optimus' helmet. (But hey, that's what I'm here for, right?)

Optimus chuckled weakly. "Yeah… I guess so."

The black Autobot sighed deeply and leant back against the rock, before switching off his optics and falling into recharge.

Sparkplug smiled and leaned against his partner's head. (We'll work it out Optimus. You'll be able to overcome this… Just like you've been able to overcome everything else. I know it.)

- - -

Soundwave sat slumped against a wall as two smaller mechs repaired the damage to his chest.

The red one looked at his twin and huffed. "I tell ya Rumble, if I ever get my hands on that Autobot who did this…" He jerked his head in the direction of Soundwave's chest.

Rumble grimaced. "I agree. We'll rip him a new tail pipe!"

"Silence!" Megatron grunted from across the room, tired of the cassettes' constant talking. "Just do your jobs!"

The twins looked at Megatron before looking back at Soundwave. His red optic flicked on as they did so, and he nodded gently.

_"Just do as he says. And… do not worry about the Autobot. He is… not someone you two would be able to counter."_ The blue mech said to them telepathically.

"But… Soundwave…" Frenzy said quietly.

Soundwave shook his head, and the twins looked at each other.

Megatron looked over his shoulder at the three. He frowned. He had no way of knowing what Soundwave was telling Rumble and Frenzy. But the Decepticon General could tell that he was saying something to their minds. He forced back a sigh of impatience… just… and turned back to the information that he was going over.

Across the room, Air Commander Starscream was skulking. Megatron had been defeated again. His 'Leader' had neglected to take him with him, so it was not a surprise to the egocentric seeker. But, observant as he was, Starscream could tell that it was not only the defeat that was bothering him. Starscream looked over at Soundwave as the cassettes continued to repair him. The damage the telepath had taken was the same as the damage Megatron had taken when they first confronted the new Autobot at the Ark, but, somehow it was all the more raw… as if when the Autobot had attacked Megatron, he was somehow more restrained.

Soundwave looked up at Megatron. "Megatron…" He started.

"Archeville was right then?" The warlord interrupted.

At the mention of the cybernetic scientist, Soundwave blinked, and Starscream grimaced. The Communications Officer had an advantage over the leader of the seekers however; he knew to what the Decepticon General was referring. In fact, he had been aware of the human scientist's theory before Megatron had even terminated the connection with him.

Soundwave resisted a sigh and nodded. "Yes."

"Does he know?"

"He does. He does not know how he came here, but he knows that this is not where he belongs."

Soundwave considered telling his leader the other things he found out before the other Optimus Prime lashed out at him. Like, the other Megatron. Or the Minicons.

…Probably not the best idea. The presence of the other Optimus Prime in this world might be the only collision of the two worlds that would ever happen. Megatron wouldn't need to know about it.

"Soundwave…" Megatron said quietly. "What did he do out there?"

"It is… uncertain."

Megatron turned to face the dark blue Decepticon where he sat against the wall. "Uncertain?"

"He did not seem aware of his actions as he performed them. It appeared to be an instinctive reaction to…" Soundwave trailed off, aware that Starscream was still in the room.

The seeker however did not miss the implication.

"Wait, the Autobot reacted to Soundwave's Telepathy??!" He exclaimed, stepping forward and looking at Megatron, his red optics wide. "What kind of Autobot can feel THAT??"

Megatron glanced at Starscream with a thoughtful look on his face. The seeker knew less than they, but his viewpoint on the matter was not without some value, he being the only one among them who had a background in scientific research. Megatron would never admit this to Starscream, but it was the truth.

"Apparently, it is so, Starscream. It certainly did seem like he could feel it."

"He could." Soundwave affirmed. The Communications Officer omitted to mention the intense amount of screaming pain that the Autobot had felt… pain which leaked over to him through the telepathic link.

Just then, the main communications terminal switched on.

"Megatron! Come in!"

Megatron diverted his attention to the screen. On it was a slightly battered, slightly panicked Scrapper, leader of the Constructicons.

"What is it, Scrapper?" Megatron asked, his dark voice betraying the fact that he was not in a tender mood. If he was ever in one.

"I'd… we really need some help down here! We're getting the frag kicked out of us Megatron! The Autobots outnumber us! Even Prime is here!"

Both Soundwave and Starscream were not oblivious to Megatron's reaction to the mention of Prime… _his_ Prime, not the freaky, new Optimus Prime with red optics.

"So what?" Starscream cut in. "Just combine and --"

"Although we'd love to, Air Commander," Scrapper interrupted, pausing as an explosion saw fit to go off in the background. "We're kinda short a part… the Autobots have beat Mixmaster into stasis, so combining isn't really going to happen."

Soundwave and Starscream looked to Megatron. Interested as he was for this new Autobot, he could not ignore his Prime… not after fighting him and devoting all his attentions to him for almost nine million years.

Soundwave decided to speak up; "Megatron, the Autobot may be involved in the conflict."

Megatron nodded, and turned to Starscream. "Starscream, collect Skywarp and Thundercracker. We will head out to assist the Constructicons."

Starscream smirked. "Okay, Megatron." He said, pleased by the possibility of giving the Autobot who had humiliated him so his comeuppance, so much so that he wasn't even going to argue or discuss the matter with the Leader. Megatron was at least, grateful for that.

As Starscream exited, Megatron looked to Soundwave. Frenzy and Rumble had paused in his reparations as the situation unfolded, and under Megatron's gaze they hastily returned to their work. Megatron shook his head, choosing not to address Soundwave at all, and left the room.

Rumble and Frenzy paused and looked at the door after Megatron. After a few moments, they looked up at Soundwave.

"This new Autobot has Megatron really worried, doesn't he?" Frenzy asked.

Soundwave nodded. "Megatron attached a suppressor onto the Autobot's arm. It was supposed to repress his weapons, but…"

"But he still somehow managed to do this, right?" Rumble finished, gesturing to the damage that he had gone back to repairing.

"…Yes."

"Sounds like a freak to me." Frenzy grumbled, crossing his arms.

_Not a freak…_ Soundwave mused. _Just lost. I almost feel sorry… for that Lost Optimus Prime._

- - -

Optimus grunted and opened his optics. What in Primus' name was all that racket? He looked at Sparkplug on his shoulder, who had already woken up.

"What's all that?" He asked.

(Sounds like battle. Perhaps the Autobots and the Decepticons are clashing nearby today.) The Minicon said.

Optimus frowned and stood up.

_How long can I keep running from them?_ He wondered. _I come under Emotionally Unstable now… they might not want me around anymore because of that. And… there's also the matter of my optics… I hadn't really noticed before… the Autobots here all have blue… and most of the Decepticons have red… But… there's no such discrimination back in our universe. I mean… Blurr has red optics, and so does Red Alert. I've never paid it any mind. But… these Autobots might not want me around because of that…_

Sparkplug looked over at his partner and smiled. (That nap must have done you some good, Optimus. You seem calmer than you did before.)

Optimus blinked and looked at his Minicon companion. "What do you mean?"

Sparkplug smirked. (You've been awake for five minutes and not had a fit. It's a record.)

"Ha, ha. Funny."

(Not really. So, are we going to go and help the other Autobots?)

Optimus looked thoughtful, and stood up. "Autobot is Autobot. I can't turn my back to them any more than I could to my own men. I just hope I can control myself well enough in battle."

(I'm sure you'll do fine. And I still have my pistol here,) Sparkplug said, taking out his pistol and twirling it on his forefinger. (So I can provide some sort of cover fire.)

Optimus smiled behind his mask. "Thankyou."

(Any time, bud. Now, let's go kick some alternate reality Decepticon ass.)

Optimus chuckled, and began to pick his way towards the battle.

- - -

The conflict was, on the grand scale of things, pretty average. The Decepticons were on one side, the Autobots on the other. They were near a drilling operation, where the humans were drilling for oil. The battlefield was fenced by a tall cliff face, and jagged peaks, leaving a man-made tunnel as the only way for the ground-bound Autobots to access the canyon.

Optimus crept towards the battle, and looked down from the top of the cliff. He hesitated.

(Don't stress Optimus.) Sparkplug piped up.

Optimus looked at his partner.

(The only thing that makes you different from these Autobots is the colour of your optics.) The yellow and black Minicon cast a dismissive wave in his partner's direction and smiled. (And me, of course.)

Optimus smiled under his mask. His little friend certainly had the magical ability to make him feel confident. Even when he was just talking rubbish; it always seemed to make him feel better.

"Right. Time to show them what this Optimus Prime can do."

(Right on, Partner!)

- - -

Below, the fighting was rather evenly matched. Several Decepticons had been forced to fall back, as had some Autobots. CMO Ratchet was doing a little battle-side 'patch and weld', when a large shadow was suddenly cast over him and the Autobot he was working on. Both of them looked skyward, and spotted the dark shape on top of the cliff.

Ratchet squinted. "…Optimus?"

Jazz looked at the medic quizzically. "Ain't Prime out there?" He gestured towards the red and blue Autobot still out laying waste to various Decepticons.

Ratchet shook his head. "Not him. The _other_ Optimus Prime."

Jazz blinked, and looked up at the shape again, just as it leapt from the edge of the cliff and started falling towards the canyon floor. "I thought he deserted?"

Ratchet frowned.

Optimus shot off towards the battle no more than three seconds after he landed on the floor of the canyon. He bolted towards Prime, and Jazz was quick to notice.

"What the… He's headed for Prime!"

"No, he… couldn't be!" Ratchet whispered.

"What in The Pit happened to him?!"

Ratchet did not answer.

- - -

Prime noticed the black shape running towards him out of the corner of his optic, but was too preoccupied by the barrage of Decepticons to react. Then, as Megatron struck him in the chest and pointed his Fusion Cannon at his head, that same black shape came between them, and planted a fist in the silver Decepticon's face as hard as he could.

Megatron fell backwards, his face now sporting a very deep dent, and landed on his back, his metal body making a loud CLANG ring off the stone floor and echo off the rocks. The fighting ground to a halt, and all mechs turned their optics on the black mech that now stood among them.

Megatron sat up and looked at the mech who dared hit him, and his expression became odd, like he was trying to both widen and narrow his optics at the same time.

"YOU!"

Optimus turned to look at Megatron, red optics darkening in hue till they were a rich wine red. "Not quite what you were expecting, Megatron?" Optimus asked, his voice dark, and velvety-smooth.

Megatron growled.

The black Autobot narrowed his optics at the Decepticon, before turning to look at Prime, who was climbing to his feet.

"You came back." Prime said quietly.

"Autobots are Autobots." Optimus said. "It just took me a little while to realise that."

Suddenly, there was a rather loud string of high pitched beeps, followed by a startled cry, then a pained yelp. Everyone turned to see Skywarp, the seeker in purple, running around in circles with a small yellow and black mech clinging to his face.

"GET IT OOFFFFFFF!" He yelled.

Autobots and Decepticons alike started snickering.

"I'm not sure why," Optimus mused, crossing his arms. "…But that's quite amusing."

_Way to face-glomp the seeker, Sparkplug._ He thought, before chuckling lightly.

"What did he say?" Prime asked in a quiet voice, leaning closer to his counterpart.

"He said, 'Time for some heavy payback, jerk.'" Optimus replied.

"Really?"

"Well, sort of. His actual words of choice were somewhat more vulgar."

Prime chuckled.

The distraction, although amusing, did not hold Megatron's attention for long. He was seething. Now he had _two_ Optimus Prime's to deal with in the one battle? He took advantage of the Primes' diverted attention, and raised his cannon to aim at the black one's chest.

Luck was on Optimus' side that day however, and it decided to prove it in the form of stoical Prowl. Prime's second saw Megatron move before anyone else, and fired several shots at the Decepticon leader before he could fire. The unexpected, albeit unsuccessful gunfire snapped everyone out of their humour induced daze, and Optimus moved. The blast from the Fusion Cannon grazed his left shoulder, ripping off a chunk of armour, but doing little else.

In an instant, Decepticons and Autobots raised their weapons as one, and the tension mounted.

Optimus looked at Prime beside him.

"When this is over," He said, causing the other Autobot to look over. "I owe you some apologies."

And the battle was renewed.

- - -

Jetfire and the other Autobots watched in silence as Hoist, Sideswipe and Red Alert tinkered with a warp set up. The 'tear' had gotten substantially larger since Sideswipe first led them to it. They had decided that now was the best time to try and get through using a warp gate.

Of course, Hot Shot had already tried just jumping through the tear itself, but that proved to be a fruitless effort.

Scavenger edged closer. "Are you guys quite sure this is going to work?" He asked.

"Not really." Hoist and Sideswipe answered together.

"Because you know what'll happen to us if...--"

"I've seen plenty of Warp Malfunction victims, Scavenger." Red Alert interrupted.

The trainer was not reassured. He went for one more try. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Define 'work'."

"It's done!" Sideswipe announced suddenly.

The Autobots looked over at the code breaker, who was sitting on the grass next to Hoist, grinning from audio to audio.

Red Alert looked the machine over, just to make sure, before standing up.

"This should work." He said.

Sideswipe and Hoist stood.

The Autobots looked at each other.

"Well, let's give it a try yeh?" Hot Shot suggested.

The others nodded, and moved to stand on the warp platform, and faced the tear.

"Here we go," Sideswipe said, reaching for the activation button. "Optimus or bust."

And the seven Autobots disappeared through the warp.

- - -

The battle was still waging wild. Sparkplug had long since abandoned the torture of the purple seeker, and had now taken up a position on Optimus' right shoulder, blasting Decepticons on random as his partner beat others into submission.

Suddenly, the din of battle was drowned out by a loud screech. The combatants paused, and turned to look at the cliff from where the sound had come. As they watched, optics wide, a silvery tear appeared in the air, just forward of the cliff. Then, with a flash of white, seven mechs ungracefully fell out of the tear; two of them managing to land on their feet, the rest, not so fortunate.

They looked up, and saw a few dozen mechs staring at them.

"Uh… hi?" A yellow mech offered.

"Seems we interrupted something." One of the larger members of the group stated.

The Constructicons in particular were looking at that mech.

Megatron's left optic twitched. This was just getting weird!

"Hey…" Thundercracker said. "Those are Autobots!"

Megatron whipped around to look at the seeker, before looking back at the new arrivals. The blue seeker was right!

"Decepticons, ATTACK!!!" He ordered, jumping up and resuming grappling with Prime.

The group looked at each other, before looking back at the mass battle in front of them.

"Okay, that was weird." The smallest of them mentioned.

"Oh well." A taller Autobot said dismissively. "Let's just help deal with these Decepticons, and then perhaps we can get some answers."

"Right." The others all agreed simultaneously, before jumping to their feet and joining the fray.

- - -

It took Megatron another ten minutes to realise this battle was lost. He ached all over, there were Autobots falling out of the _freaking sky_, and he'd just had enough. The oil from the drilling operation seemed to have little value right now.

"Decepticons, RETREAT!" He yelled, before taking off and shooting into the sky.

The new group watched the retreat with interest.

"That was new." One of them commented.

On the other side of the battlefield, Prime was helping Optimus to his feet.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm fine."

Prime nodded. "That's good. Now, let's go meet these new Autobots."

"I… don't have to." Optimus muttered.

Prime stopped and to look at his counterpart. "What?"

"OPTIMUS!!!"

"Oh no."

Prime had half a moment to blink before a blue and yellow blur shot past him and jumped on Optimus. He stared, and realised that the blur had been a fast moving blue Autobot, who had just glomped his counterpart with enthusiasm.

"We found you!" He said happily.

Optimus was too dazed to answer.

Prime looked back at the other new Autobots, all of whom had brought their hands to their foreheads.

"Hi…" Optimus said quietly. "Please get off…"

The blue mech blinked and jumped back as if he'd just been hugging hot coals, letting Optimus sit up. "I am SO sorry…."

"Actually," The only flier of the new group said as they approached. "We could all admit to the sentiment."

Optimus stood. "So could I."

Prime stepped forward. "You are, Optimus' men?" He asked.

The group looked at Prime in silence, then looked at Optimus, and then back at Prime.

"Weird…"

Optimus smiled to himself under his mask.

"Don't look so confused." He said gently. "Let me explain."

- - -

One rather vague explanation of parallel universes later, Optimus was introducing his soldiers to the other Autobots.

Red Alert and Ratchet scrutinised each other carefully, but were soon talking about medical equipment and techniques. You really had to be a medic to understand it.

Prowl and Jetfire got on less easily; Jetfire saw quite fit to tease Prime's second that he couldn't fly, and Prowl did not appreciate the notion.

Scavenger and Ironhide were chatting quite casually, swapping stories of campaigns they had fought in, and Decepticons they had, apparently repeatedly, slagged.

Jazz was trying very hard to strike up a conversation with Blurr, but the blue and white sniper would have nothing to do with the mech. Their personalities were, in Blurr's opinion, polar opposites.

Optimus turned to Hoist. He looked at the silver engineer closely.

"Aren't you supposed to be orange?" He asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be blue and red?" Hoist countered.

"Touché." Optimus admitted. "What happened?"

Hoist smirked. "Oh, nothing really, Megs just pegged me with the Requiem Blaster."

"He did _what_?!"

"Yeah, got me right here." He pat his midsection with his left hand. "Ploughed a hole right through me. Red had to rebuild me from scratch."

"R-really…"

"Yeah. And, I go by Hoist now. Smokescreen has 'departed', shall we say."

Optimus stared at Hoist dumbly, before saying, "That must have hurt."

Hoist just about fell over at the comment. He looked up into the red optics of his leader, and smiled.

"Understatement of the year, Optimus." He said, patting the taller Autobot's shoulder lightly.

Prime looked at the silver mech. "So technically, you've died once."

"Yup. You're going to want to trust me on this; it's not something you'd wanna do on a regular basis."

"Come on bro, don't be such a nuisance."

Prime and Optimus looked over to see two yellow mechs arguing, and their brothers attempting to calm them down.

"Why am I not surprised?" Both leaders said at the same time, before blinking and looking at each other.

"We have got to stop doing that." Optimus added.

"Probably." Prime agreed. "Come on, let's go stop them."

The two leaders walked over.

"Hot Shot!"

"Sunstreaker!"

The two yellow mechs paused, and looked over at their leaders.

"What are you doing?" Optimus asked.

"N-nothing sir…" Hot Shot answered.

"Just talking." Sunstreaker added.

"I doubt it." Prime said dully.

"Perhaps we should put them in a small room together." Optimus suggested. "Then they can work out their differences without bothering everyone else."

"Perhaps we should." Prime agreed.

"But, Optimus!" The two yellow mechs complained simultaneously, causing their brothers to giggle.

Optimus looked from the red Sideswipe to the blue.

"I don't believe I introduced you yet. Sideswipe," he paused, not quite sure which mech he was addressing. "Meet Sideswipe."

The red and blue mechs looked at each other curiously.

"You're the other Sideswipe?" The red asked.

"Yeah… I am." Replied the blue. "Why are you so much older than me?"

The red Sideswipe smirked. "Luck of the draw kiddo. Just like how I'm red and you're blue."

"I like being blue. Red only looks good on Optimus and Starscream." He paused. "There's a Starscream in this universe, right?"

"Yup."

"Is he red coloured?"

The two Autobot commanders looked at each other, before looking at Hot Shot and Sunstreaker.

"See, they can get along." Optimus observed.

"They're the same guy though!" Sunstreaker countered.

"So that would mean my counterpart and I are the same person also?" Prime asked.

"You're different, clearly." Hot Shot said, earning a glare from Sunstreaker. "The Sideswipes are different too…but that has nothing to do with it." He turned to face Sunstreaker. "I just don't like you."

"Why you…!"

The leaders sighed.

"It's no use." Prime said quietly.

"I give up." Optimus agreed.

Just then, Blurr strode towards them.

"What is it, Blurr?" Optimus asked.

"I'm wondering if it concerns anyone that _that_ is still there." He said, pointing at the gash in the sky from whence they had fallen.

Optimus and Prime stared at it.

"Oh…"

Suddenly, the ground shook, and the tear bulged, before growing larger. Several mechs fell over.

"Well, that can't be good."

Then, as another tremor shook the ground, there was a flash of brilliant white light.

And the Optimus Primes were gone.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yays for motivation! Chapter 11! Skippy Badge for whoever gets the joke in this chapter XD

Reviews of win:

Rose Gad – MORE!

Fk306 Animelover – Let's all hug the Optimus XD

Prime Revolver – Heh heh heh…

Storm Blue Lightning Saix – Nope. Nemesis Prime is all black, and is some freaky thing that has something to do with Sideways. This is Optimus' supercharged colour scheme. Just like how Starscream gets redone in blue to look like Thundercracker, and Megs turns into Galvatron.

Kaekokat – XD

PitaC89 – There's some of them here! There'll be a little bit more of them coming up too, so, look forward to it!

JML – Sci Fi doth pwn.

Thatredcar – Heh. I'm afraid I'm going to upset you when I say there is only one more chapter to go…

Tahalli – I enjoy it, that's for sure. XD

And alas, there's only one chapter left to go. D: The end is near oh noes! I will try my hardest to make the finale long, and full of awesome, and get it up in reasonable time. Thankyou so much people for sticking with me this long, especially in the gap between chapters 9 and 10…

So, I'll be seeing you soon, in the grand FINALE, Chapter 12; Twin Points of Light


	12. Twin Points of Light

When Optimus' vision came back into focus, he was still standing on his feet. His older and taller counterpart was still standing also, in the same place he had been before the flash of light; right by his side.

"That was… odd." He said quietly.

Prime looked at Optimus, before giving a mute nod.

The pair looked around. They seemed to still be in the canyon near the drilling platform. The only difference was the white shimmer that covered everything, save themselves.

"Where are our men?" Prime asked, casting an optic around, and seeing neither his, nor Optimus' forces around at all. Even Optimus' Minicon was not in sight, which was particularly strange, as the small mech had been standing on Optimus' shoulder moments before.

"I… don't know. This has become even more bizarre."

Prime frowned under his mask. He was about to say something, when the black Autobot grunted and grasped at his chest, slumping slightly.

"Are you alright?" Prime asked, moving closer and putting a gentle hand on his counterpart's shoulder.

"Yes…" Optimus managed. "But…" He paused. Should he say anything? He was under oath not to reveal the Matrix unless it was necessary… oh who was he kidding? The mech standing next to him had a Matrix of his own! It wasn't breaking his oath to mention it, or take it out of his chest now.

The black Autobot reached up, and with a gentle touch to his chest plate, opened it, revealing the cavity, and the shimmering gold and crystalline object. Prime observed in silence. He did not know the role of the Matrix in his friend's world, nor what its purpose was. But, to keep it in his chest, beside his spark, Prime knew that to Optimus, it was every bit as important as his own.

He felt Optimus' body relax as the Matrix was moved away from his body. He frowned.

"Your Matrix… What is it doing to you?" Prime asked.

Optimus shook his head. "I don't know. But… when it rests against me… I don't know… I feel unable to restrain my emotions… I think it was the reason I became so angry at you earlier…" Optimus paused and raised his head to look at the taller Autobot. "I am sorry."

Prime shook his head. "It wasn't your fault… I came to the same conclusion myself."

"You did?" Optimus blinked his red optics.

Prime nodded. "When I realised that you kept your Matrix close to your spark, just as I do, I realised that it must be responsible. I know that I have felt and seen strange things thanks to this in the past." Prime smiled under his mask at Optimus' relieved expression.

The red and blue Autobot nodded, and rested his gaze on the Matrix in his counterpart's hands. "Is it supposed to flicker that way?" He asked, knowing full well that his distributed a steady shine.

"No… It's not."

Prime frowned.

"It may be… reacting to yours."

Prime blinked his blue optics in surprise, before raising his hands to his chest, and gently pulled it open, removing his own Matrix.

The two commanders looked at the Matrixes curiously. Prime's Matrix was slightly smaller, with an easily defined spherical crystal, and golden surround, in contrast to Optimus', which was much broader, and looked more like a crystal set inside a gold frame.

"They look… so different…" Prime observed, also noticing that his was also flickering.

Optimus frowned. "What is… happening here?"

As if triggered by his question, the two Matrixes started flickering wildly. Before either Prime could express concern, Optimus jumped back in surprise… a dark shape materialised beside him, sparking darkly. The strange, sparking, dark mass started to change, and shift, until a small, thinly built transformer was standing before them, arms crossed, and a smug expression on his face. Optimus let out an agitated hiss. He knew this transformer all too well.

"Sideways! You glitch, _you're_ responsible for this!" Optimus growled, his voice so dark that it startled his older companion.

The aforementioned mech chuckled, a sound which Prime found most unpleasant, and stepped forward.

"It's nice to see you too, Optimus Prime." He said sarcastically. "Or, should I say, Optimus Primes." The purple mech turned his head to look at the taller of the two. "You've gotten yourselves into a right mess, haven't you?"

"You weren't content to interfere with our matters in our own world; you had to spread your _disease_ to this one! This world has nothing to do with you, or whatever agenda you serve!" Optimus barked.

"Optimus… You know this mech?" Prime asked.

Sideways chuckled. "Ah, you could not be more mistaken, Optimus." The small mech looked to Prime. "He knows me quite well." He said airily. "In days past I fought Decepticons by his side, before leaving the Autobot base in favour of the Decepticons. And in time, I took my leave of them as well. You pitiful Transformers are naught but an itch to my master, and itch that has been quite persistent over the millennia."

"Your master?" Optimus pressed, still quite irritated.

The purple mech smirked, an action which went unseen due to the mask he wore over his face, but was felt none the less.

"As if I would give you his name. All you need know is that he is more powerful than anything at has ever existed, and anything that ever will. The only thing that he can not do is stop the phenomenon that is occurring around you, and has been occurring for the last long while. Since you have been present in this world, in fact."

"What IS happening?" Prime demanded.

"The worlds are colliding." Sideways said simply.

"Colliding?!" The two Autobots exclaimed together.

"Indeed." Sideways said with his smug voice. "When these, and other worlds were created, long ago, they were created with a flaw. They are not quite, parallel, as you would put it."

"What is THAT supposed to mean?"

"It means, deluded ones, that these worlds are constructed on a convexical timeline." Sideways swept his hands upwards, and they left behind them, streams of dark purple energy. The streams were curved, bent into convex curves, differing in direction from the centre. The two beams in the centre collided where the summit of the curves was at its greatest.

"Feel honoured." Sideways said haughtily. "Behold the Streams of Time. In this instability, I can show these to you. At any other moment, mortals would not be able to see the Map of Streams, nor I to conjure it. Such a thing is reserved for my master and his like. The streams in the centre are yours."

The Autobots gazed at the streams in awe.

"Our worlds…. Just after the convex… they… stop…" Prime noted dully.

"Why?"

"Why? Because your worlds are being destroyed, that is why." Sideways huffed. "Cast your gaze around you. You can see for yourselves that this world is dissolving, and things are not faring any better in the other one." The commanders looked around. It was true. The world was starting to disappear; mountains were bursting into sand and being sucked away, oceans evaporating, city buildings melting into slag and vanishing into the diminishing earth. "Your time has come to an end, Transformers." Sideways continued, as the Map of Streams disappeared from sight. "But it matters not to me, nor to my master wether your worlds continue or die away."

"If you don't care, why are you telling us this?" Optimus hissed, stepping towards Sideways in a most predatory manner.

Sideways took Optimus' unspoken threat in stride, rather finding it amusing that the black Autobot would think of attacking him, which at this time was pointless, and at any time was useless; the commander would not have the power to defeat him, even in a fair fight.

"Because, you angry little Autobot, you are going to die. Because, I feel I have enough respect for you, as a former Transformer myself, to let you die knowing the reason. And of course…"

Sideways' body took on a static appearance and he chuckled.

"Should you some how produce a miracle, I should like to see you both again. To traverse a world not on the Map of Streams is an honour we may all wish to procure."

And with another arrogant cackle, the Incarnation of Anarchy vanished, leaving the two to ponder his words.

"We could… try and evacuate to another world perhaps?" Optimus suggested, attempting to find a way to save everyone.

Prime shook his head. "We don't have enough time to do something like that. To evacuate every planet and planetoid to another world would take millions of years, and we lack the power to do so. And… evacuation… has failed me in the past."

Optimus frowned. "Now I think of it… it's failed me before too." He paused as the memory of the Minicon Evacuation surfaced in his mind. "So what can we do?"

Prime sighed, and looked skyward. Optimus followed his gaze towards the stars. "I don't know… if there is anything we can do…"

The two Autobots stared wistfully into space, their hands clenched tight on their Matrixes.

- - -

"What the…?"

When the optics of the Autobot forces came back into focus, their leaders were gone. Sparkplug was already running around the area, checking in every crevasse, behind every rock, and even down by the drill platform, in search of his partner. All the while he was screeching out his partner's name, his terror filled beeps and squeals sending shivers to the core of all present. Not many could actually understand the words he was saying… but they all knew enough to guess.

"Optimus…" The blue Sideswipe said quietly. "He's gone… we lost him again…"

"Damn it!" Hot Shot hissed. "We were standing right beside him, and he vanished again! What in the name of Cybertron is happening? Why can't we stay near him?!"

Prime's Autobots looked over.

"It's not just you who has to bear this!" Sunstreaker yelled. "Our Optimus is gone too! Everything was normal until your freak leader showed up here! It's all his and your fault any of this has happened!"

"IS NOT!!!" The yellow mechs lunged at each other's throats, and they tried to rip each other apart, right there in front of their comrades.

"Knock it off! Stop!" Their brothers tried to interfere, but the two warring Autobots were fuelled by misplaced rage, and they were not strong enough to stop them.

But there was an Autobot that was.

"KNOCK IT OFF THE BOTH OF YOU!" Scavenger boomed, grabbing both mechs by their scruffs and hefting them both off the ground so suddenly and so strongly that they both fell still in surprise. Prime's Autobots were impressed by his strength.

"NOW the both of you listen to me!" The trainer continued. "This is no one's fault! We are caught up in something out of our power to control. Beating each other to a pulp is POINTLESS!"

The tall green and crimson mech dropped the two yellow youngsters, and they landed on their afts on the stone floor before him, speechless. The trainer glared down at them, and they recoiled.

"Scavenger's right." Jetfire said quietly. "There's really… not much we can do…"

Suddenly, the ground shook, causing all but the sturdiest Autobots to topple to the ground.

"What in the name of Primus is going on?!" Ratchet demanded, having had quite enough of this weirdness.

"I wish I had an answer, Ratchet…" Red Alert said regrettably, looking at the fellow medic. All other Autobots shared the opinion.

Just then, the blue Sideswipe uttered a cry of surprise. "Look at that! Look at the rock!"

Although several of his comrades were not quick to see what had alarmed the young mech, many other Autobots were. Eventually, all were shocked.

The rock that was surrounding them was dissolving. _Dissolving_, of all things. It was as if they were watching a video tape of rock eroding over hundreds of years, sped up so it was taking moments.

"What… do we do now?" Sideswipe asked, looking towards Jetfire and Prowl, being the highest ranked out of them all.

The two Vices looked at the blue spy, then at each other, before looking at the assembled Autobots, who were all waiting for an answer. Unfortunately, all they could say was a perfectly synchronised, "I don't know…"

- - -

"Think, Prime! There's gotta be something we can do!" Optimus was beginning to lose it. Feeling utterly, completely and a million percent helpless was new for him, and he didn't like it… nor, as the case happened to be, could he deal with it very well.

Prime shook his head. "There is nothing I can think of…"

"What about these things?" Optimus held his Matrix towards Prime. "They've gotta be some use!"

Prime frowned and looked at his own Matrix, where it was sitting carelessly in his hands. "Ours is said to be fated to light our darkest hour…" He offered in a quiet voice.

"Well, now is looking pretty dim." Optimus returned. "I can't stand this! Countless worlds in _two_ universes are being destroyed and there's nothing I can do!"

Prime frowned, and moved to put a comforting hand on his counterpart's shoulder. But, as the younger of the pair moved in agitation and paranoia, the tall Autobot's dark blue hand landed on the gold and crystalline Matrix in his hands. The object flicked and glimmered, and sparked in many colours. In the back of Optimus' panicked mind, looking upon the Matrix at this moment caused him to feebly think; 'Ooooh, pretty.'

"What is it… doing?" Prime wondered for the second time.

"I… don't know…" Optimus admitted. "I've never seen it… do that…"

A thought danced through the young leader's mind. Slowly, he reached towards his companion, and laid two fingers against Prime's Matrix. The other Matrix started giving out a similar display as the first, spitting silver and gold sparks in all directions.

Before the Primes could utter a well placed 'what the…' the two objects began to glow, and suddenly, snapped out of their owner's hands, and began darting around the pair, one a stream of silver, the other of gold. They split the air around them for several moments, before honing in on Optimus' arm. They both pushed through the Autobot's arm, and the suppressor that was still handicapping him, several times, making him grunt in discomfort. They took to the air again, and a moment later, the suppressor shattered into pixels.

Optimus gasped as a range of sensors and systems came online simultaneously, filling his neural lines with a sharp, tingly, overwhelming feeling. But that was naught compared to the next sensation; the sensation of stored up power from his system and from his hand-mounted generators flooded into his energy projectors, and all but exploded out of his hands, knocking him backwards. Prime gasped slightly in worry, and dashed to his friend's side, helping him up. The other Autobot frowned. The outburst of stored energy had ripped, _totally ripped_ all the armour plating off of Optimus' fingers, exposing the metal inner skeleton, and the wires and cogs and gears that allowed the digits to move.

"Are you, alright?" Prime asked.

"That was… painful…"

The black Autobot looked down at his hands. "Ouch…" He muttered, flexing his skeletal fingers, taking some small delight in learning that yes, they all still worked, despite having been so suddenly deprived of their 'skin'.

The pair looked up, and watched the two streaks of light that were still dancing around them.

"What… is this?" Optimus wondered. "This is just… crazy…"

"Very…" Prime agreed.

The two Autobots looked on curiously, as the silver streak flitted around Optimus, and the gold around Prime.

"What are they doing?" Prime asked.

"It's almost like they want something from us." Optimus said.

At his words, the twin lights went into a frenzy. They darted around the Autobot Commanders wildly, letting out an eerie, enchanting sound. After a few minutes, they started to slow down, and then, they collided.

Optimus pulled himself to his feet, frowning. The two lights hadn't exactly combined, but more squished into each other, like what would happen if you pressed two balls of bluetac together. You could still easily see the gold half and the silver half.

Prime also looked at the hovering light.

"You said they wanted something… what?"

Optimus shook his head. "How would I know? I don't even know what my Matrix really is, let alone this."

Prime blinked. "You don't know what your Matrix is?"

Optimus shook his head. "No Autobot Commander has in a long while."

"Hold up, you said your war was only five million years old!"

Optimus looked sideways at the taller Prime. "_This_ one has been. The Autobots and Decepticons had been fighting long before I was designed. We've had many Commanders over that time, standard Autobot Decepticon guerrilla warfare taking the lives of most of them. When I was created, the two forces were at something of a standstill. A million years after I was created, the Minicons were discovered, and their power became known. The fighting started up again, starting the 'Minicon War'." Optimus paused. "I thought I told you that already."

"Not quite like that!" Prime returned. That explained an awful lot. No _wonder_ Optimus didn't think it odd that he was commander at such a young age; he had been built to fight! He'd been fighting since the day he was activated! No wonder!

Optimus blinked. A revelation seemed to have just happened for his counterpart.

Prime shook his head a few times to clear it. "That makes things… a little clearer to me."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologise!" Prime said, his voice sounding as if a great weight had been lifted from him. "The fault was mine; I had assumed that there were more similarities in our worlds than differences. I never stopped to think that your Cybertron may have been shaken by more than one war!"

Optimus smiled under his mask. "One of the humans who work with us had a saying about that." He mentioned. "He said to me once, 'Don't assume, because it makes an ass out of you and me.' English word play. Quite clever, actually."

Prime chuckled, before looking back at the light that was still patiently hovering before them.

"My Matrix was a piece of Primus… it created life… that was its function." He said. "When combined with Vector Sigma, we could create new Transformers."

Optimus blinked.

Prime reached up and rested a hand on the gold side of the light. It began to hum pleasantly, but did nothing else. Prime looked at Optimus. "It's half yours, you know." He pointed out.

Optimus blinked, but slowly walked over and put his skeletal hand on the silver side. The light whistled in an almost delighted tone, and the two sides began to expand and come apart in their hands.

There was a blinding flash, and the two Optimus Primes suddenly stood with their Matrixes resting in their hands. They looked at each other, but, before any words could be said, the two Matrixes began to hum and whistle. The Commanders felt a tingling sensation in their chest cavities, and the world became dark.

- - -

The other Autobots could do little more than watch as the world around them dissolved in front of their optics. Although some were watching with a little commentary.

"GAAHH!!! I CAN'T TAKE THIS!!!"

Hot Shot had put his hands on the sides of his helmet and yelled as loud as he could in an attempt to relieve some of the tension. It didn't work as well as he had hoped.

"I swear, if you yell like that one more time, I will_ kill you_." Sunstreaker growled, covering his audios to protect them from the assault.

Hot Shot glared at the other yellow Autobot. "Go ahead and try, Sunshine." He huffed.

The two Sideswipes flinched. They were both aware that there was mere seconds separating their brothers from an all out brawl, even with Scavenger standing a few feet away, glaring daggers at the pair.

Sunstreaker bared his teeth and hissed, and rose to his feet as Hot Shot reacted quite the same way. But the two Autobots were halted by a sudden darkness that covered the area.

"What the…?"

"It's likely the sun has just been extinguished…" Prowl said, almost sadly. "We should notice a sudden temperature drop any second now."

There was a collective groan from the Autobots.

They waited.

And they waited some more.

The drop in temperature never came.

"Uh, Prowl? Shouldn't it have happened by now?" Jetfire asked, turning to look at the pair of blue optics beside him, the only indication Prowl was there.

The ice blue optics turned to look at his gold. "…Logically, yes…"

"This isn't average everyday darkness." Scavenger said darkly.

"It's _advanced_ darkness." Smokescreen blurted out, having heard the line on TV. The others stared at him. "…Sorry."

"What's that?" said Red Alert suddenly.

The others directed their gaze at the red glow of the medic's optic band, before turning to find out what he was looking at.

Up in the sky, there were two somethings. And not just any somethings, shiny somethings. Two shiny somethings, one silver, one gold. Twin points of light in the sky above them… like two lone stars. And they appeared to be advancing at a startling rate.

The Autobots were so busy watching the two lights in the sky that they didn't notice two pairs of optics open near them; one blue, one red. The red pair looked up and spotted the lights, before looking at the other pairs of optics around. Quickly doing the math in his head, the red pair's owner figured out where the lights would strike the ground, unaware that the owner of the blue optics was doing much the same thing.

Just as the lights came hurtling down to earth, Prowl found himself tackled to the ground, and Blurr felt someone grab his arm and strongly yank him several feet to the side. In the same moment, the lights made a loud squeal and collided with the stone ground with a loud crash.

When the Autobots recovered themselves and looked, the sky was filled with lightning. There was a red glow to the east… a sunrise? At this time of day? Ah well, stranger things had happened… like the two craters that marked the ground at their feet, which seemed to be shimmering, for example.

Prowl looked from the crater nearest him to the black and navy mech that sat crouched beside him, inspecting the crater.

"Optimus?" He said quietly. "Where did you come from?"

Optimus shrugged. "Are you alright?" He asked, turning to look at the Vice.

Prowl looked stunned, but nodded. "Yes… Thankyou."

Optimus nodded.

Blurr turned just as Prime pulled his hand off the sniper's arm. "…Thankyou…" He said.

Prime nodded. "You're welcome."

The blue Sideswipe cautiously approached Optimus. "Sir… are you alright?" He asked, having spotted his leader's hands.

Optimus looked up at the spy, before looking down at his hands. After a moment of contemplation, he looked back up at Sideswipe. "It's nothing that can't be fixed." He said. "I'll be alright."

There was a chuckle from behind the Autobot group, and they all turned, and saw a small, purple mech standing against a very intact rock formation, arms crossed over his chest, looking over them all.

"Sideways!" Several Autobots exclaimed.

Sideways chuckled. "How sadly anticlimactic." He mused.

"And what, dare I ask, do you mean by that?" Optimus asked, pulling himself to his feet and walking around his men to stand before the virus.

"Without even trying." Sideways sighed. "Without even trying. Without any sacrifice. Without any hardship or toil, and look what you have done."

Optimus blinked, and looked around. The world around them seemed to be quite alight. A little worn looking, maybe, but no longer breaking up… no longer being destroyed.

"So sadly anticlimactic." Sideways repeated.

"Care to enlighten us as to the cause?" Prime asked, stepping up beside Optimus, leaving the rest of the Autobots to stand confused behind them.

"Not rightly sure." Sideways admitted. "Granted, as I said, I couldn't care less either way. Neither could he. He wins no matter what happens."

"He?" Hot Shot piped up from behind his commander, but was swiftly silenced by an eerily similar look from all three participants of the conversation. A look which said clearly, if you don't know what is going on, _butt out._

"It may have something to do with _those_ things." Sideways suggested, gesturing towards the two commanders' chests. Both Autobots blinked, and rested a hand on their chests, moving automatically.

Prowl and Jetfire looked at each other. As the 2IC in their respective Autobot ranks, they were privy to a vast lot more top secret information than their comrades. However, between them, only Jetfire had inkling to what the purple virus was referring to. He had seen the Matrix before.

As of yet though, Prime had done a much better job at keeping it hidden than Optimus.

"After all," Sideways continued. "You have indeed observed two sparks of light today. Just typical, that the other _he_ comes in to save all your hides at the last fragging moment. And what have the two of you done to pay for such a help?" He asked, ignoring the look of confused on the two Autobots' faces at the mention of another creature like Sideways' master. He had managed to work himself into a filthy temper in about ten seconds of thinking the day's latest events over. "You Autobots always do this! _Always!!!_ Always do you get something for nothing, succeed without paying a sacrifice! I could rattle examples from both worlds that would take decades to near completion! Argh!"

The purple mech began to prowl the area, and the Autobots watched him cautiously.

"You filthy Transformers." Sideways spat after a few moments of contemplation. "Filthy, loathsome creatures! Even the Humans have had to work for their successes! But _you!_ Nothing breeds nothing. How is it you continue to exist and yet pay _nothing?!_"

"Our payment may be a little too subtle for you to see, Sideways." Prime said solemnly, snapping the motorcycle out of his rant, and surprising all but his counterpart.

"Oh?" Sidewise quipped in a light tone. "Oh? A subtle payment? Something you can't see? Then make clear to me, Optimus Prime both, your subtle payment! What is it that you have paid?"

Optimus was about to give an answer, when the blue Sideswipe made a little squeal of realisation, and he looked at Sideways with the smuggest look that would ever grace his features.

"You just said it!"

Sideways arched an optic ridge at the spy, as did a few others. "What?"

Optimus turned his whole body to face Sideswipe. He knew the young code breaker to be exceptionally bright. But what meaning could he have derived from what Sideways had said?

Sideswipe continued to grin. "Think hard, Sideways." He said in something of a teasing tone. "We pay for our payment, every waking hour, and even the non-waking ones. Our burden, curse, and life, all rolled into one."

Optimus furrowed his brow in thought, trying to crack Sideswipe's riddle, but to no avail. Sideways either couldn't break it either, or couldn't be bothered trying.

"I'm not in the mood for riddles!" He spat, raising his arm and firing the cannon mounted there at the spy.

Autobots scattered to get out of the way, and Sideswipe dropped to his knees to avoid being hit. Once the blast had collided with the rock behind him, the blue Autobot stood up again.

"Oh, it's not a hard riddle, Sideways." Sideswipe jeered. "Think about it. It's what you've been trying to continue between us for so long."

Optimus blinked. So _that_ was it. Sideswipe, you brilliant little…

Sideswipe took pity on the purple virus. "War, Sideways, is what we pay. It can't be seen but it can be felt, it can be experienced but not described, it is our curse, our burden, and our life, all rolled into one."

"Oooooh, war, I'm so impressed." Sideways huffed. "War. You pay for an Almost Almighty's help with war? _War?!_ Don't be daft. If he wanted you to wage war, he wouldn't contest my master so fervently."

Sideswipe grit his dental plates and glared at the virus.

"He doesn't want us to wage war." Prime said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "He wants us to end it."

"I'm afraid you've just lost me." Sideways crossed his arms over his chest.

"We are sentient. Sentient beings learn through mistakes. We've made our fair share of mistakes, and there is no doubt that there will be more in the future. But if everything was let to be destroyed, for no good reason, through no fault of ours, what are we supposed to learn? How are we supposed to put our problems to rest and behind us?"

Sideways let out a hiss of agitation. "You're NOT! You'll all DIE! And not before time!"

It was at this point that Hot Shot, the brash young warrior that he was, decided that he couldn't take being in Sideway's presence any longer. He pulled out his pistol and fired a good few, well-aimed rounds into Sideways' chest.

The incarnation of Anarchy's torso exploded into static, and his whole body lost its shape, dissolving into a mass of static-y, flickering, sparking goo on the stone floor.

"Good call." Sunstreaker said in approval, giving the fellow yellow Autobot a pat on the back.

"It's not over yet." Optimus said darkly.

"Too right, Optimus Prime!" Boomed Sideways' voice. "There's no end to the suffering you and your kind will have to live through, and I'll be there, watching all the while, laughing!"

"Go away, Sideways." Optimus ordered, his voice so sinister the air around him seemed to dim as he spoke. "Go away to let us enjoy this victory while we still hold onto the life to do so."

The static puddle that was Sideways let out a hollow laugh. "Keep in mind Autobots, that my master is on his way, in both worlds. He will destroy you all."

There was one, final arrogant chuckle, and the mech was gone. And, in the opinion of all who saw Sideways that day, it was not a moment too soon.

Optimus grunted and slumped to his knees, attempting to stifle a stream of smoke that began to seep out of his body through the cracks in his chest panelling with his slender, skeletal hands. Red Alert and Ratchet both dashed to his side, but he waved them off.

"Don't!" He hissed, and they stepped back in surprise.

Prime looked down. "Optimus?" He said, reaching out a hand, only to have it batted away.

"I said DON'T!"

Optimus' Autobots, and most of Prime's Autobots stared at the black commander in shock and surprise.

"What's wedged up your boiler?" A certain mistrusting red plane asked, narrowing his blue optics at the taller Autobot.

Optimus whirled around to face Powerglide, and affixed him with a glare that was so perfectly venomous that the red Autobot recoiled in fear.

Prime was not pleased. His friend was hurt, and not even letting the medics look at him. He had been fine a moment ago… what changed?

There was a loud hiss, then something that was somewhere between a pop and a boom, which came, not from Optimus' vocal monitor but from his chest, and more smoke, black in colour, puffed out of the seams. The commander bit back a scream of pain, and toppled over onto his side, grasping at his chest.

Red Alert frowned at his leader. "I don't care what sort of emotional trauma you're going through, you're letting me fix you, or I'm knocking you out, Optimus Prime!" His tone was icy.

To Prime's astonishment, Optimus responded to the medic's threat, and nodded slowly. Although he shouldn't have been surprised; he himself often received threats from his own CMO, when he was being particularly stubborn. Universal constants, oh yes.

The SUV dropped to his knees beside his friend right then and there, activated the medical laser on his left hand, and began to peel back Optimus' chest plating. Prime's Autobots took a few steps away from Red Alert. He was NOT the paranoid Security Director that they knew and put up with.

Prowl looked at Jetfire. "Will he be alright?"

Jetfire turned his head towards the shorter VC, his masked face showing nothing, but a confident twinkle in his optics. "Yeah. He'll be better than alright. He's Optimus. He doesn't die so easy."

Prime overheard and frowned. His men thought the same about him too, he knew.

"Isn't that a little overconfident?" Prowl asked.

"Nah." Jetfire returned. "Especially when you consider the medic workin' on him."

Prowl nodded, knowing that the Red Alert from the other world held the same position as Ratchet in theirs. Jetfire caught the gesture, and knew what the police car was thinking.

"One doesn't die easy, and the other won't let them go without one hell of a fight. I suppose your pair is the same."

Prowl smiled and looked towards his leader. "Yeah, they are."

Ratchet stepped up next to the shuttle. "Does he need any help?"

"Nah." Jetfire said gently. "He's Red Alert. He's been inside Optimus' chassis more often than I have."

Ratchet and Prowl took an extra moment to process what the tall white Autobot had just said. They looked at him with identical looks of bewilderment.

"_What?!_"

"You combine." Prime cut in, and everyone, with the exception of Red Alert and Optimus, looked at the commander, some with curious expressions, others in shock, a few in slight amusement.

Jetfire nodded. "Yeah. He told you that, I suppose?"

Prime shook his head. "He mentioned a 'second transformation configuration'… he can combine with his container. But he also said that it was used when there was a need to 'fight as one'. I never asked him what that meant."

The shuttle offered a chuckle. "It's not hard to figure it out though." He said, glancing down at his commander. "Optimus is bad at riddles."

"We should get Optimus to a med bay." Red Alert pipped up. The others looked at him. "There's damage I just don't have the equipment to repair."

Ratchet cast an optic over Optimus' exposed internals and nodded in agreement. "We've got the equipment you need back at the Ark."

"Autobots, we're heading back. Roll out!" Prime ordered.

And all Autobots obeyed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here is where Iniku decides that the wait has been sufficiently long enough, and splitting this chapter into two chapters will make people happier. And happy people are good.

Now, I'm not even going to bother trying to reply to everyone's reviews, there were LOTS. But know that I appreciate your input, and again, I apologise for the totally unreasonable wait on this chapter.

Then next one is now planned to be the finale (finale, JML, not epilogue, _finale_) but this one was too, so just ignore me and wait for the story to stop.


	13. Where We Belong

Never ones to let one of their own suffer alone, many Autobots crowded the medbay to see what was wrong with the black Optimus Prime. This, understandably, ticked Ratchet off to no end, but, much to the older medic's surprise, it didn't seem to bother Red Alert at all. He just worked in silence, as if the others weren't even there.

Ratchet took up a position by the blue medic's side. "Anything I can do to help?" He asked.

Red Alert let out a contemplative grunt. "Possibly. There are a few parts I need in order to repair the damage, and… hmmm…"

"Hmm?" Ratchet leaned over his shoulder to look at the inside of Optimus' torso.

"You may want to check up on your Prime as well." He said quietly.

"What for? He seems fine to me." Ratchet looked over at the taller Prime standing near the back of the crowd.

"The damage could be less on him than on this one." He motioned towards the Prime on the table, who had been put in stasis to avoid unnecessary discomfort. "Look here." He pointed to the inner most part of visible damage. The whole inside of Optimus' torso had been scorched, and had melted a little.

The other Autobots fidgeted uncomfortably. Many of them, being used to Ratchet's rather loud yelling and cursing, were not used to the medics talking using lowered voices. Those not used to Ratchet were not as bothered by it, seeing as they had only had one medic on their base.

"What caused that, do you think?" Ratchet asked, voice still lowered.

Red Alert didn't answer right away. "You've seen _'it'_, haven't you?"

"You mean the M—" He cut himself off. "Yeah. A few times." He said after a pause.

"I think it was that." Red Alert said darkly. "We're going to need to clear the medbay. Now." He said, standing up.

The Autobots all cringed as the two head medics whirled around to glare at them.

"Out. Now." Red Alert ordered.

There was a moment of hesitation, but then they all high-tailed it outta there seeing the look on Ratchet's face, which said "…or I'll weld you to the wall!"

"Hang on, Prime, not you." Red Alert said, stopping the tall commander as he moved to leave with the others. "We still need you here."

He looked at the blue medic, but then stood still.

Ratchet strode over and locked the door firmly, while Red Alert turned back to Optimus' prone form on the repair berth in front of him.

"What did you do to your Matrixes, Prime?" The blue medic asked casually.

Prime's optics widened somewhat. "How did…"

"Optimus doesn't get to choose where he takes his damage, Prime." Red Alert cut across him. "In our universe, Megatron has the sense of mind to try and aim for his Spark." Prime considered sticking up for his own nemesis, as he knew Megatron did know how to aim, but he decided against it. "He's had chest wounds many times, and when you keep the thing in your chest, chances are, your medic is going to see it."

Prime looked at Ratchet. "He's got a point, Prime." Said the white and red with a grin. "You're good at keeping yours hidden, but I've seen it."

"I… see."

"So I'll ask again; what did you two do?"

Prime frowned. "We weren't sure. It was bizarre and random and neither of us understood it."

Red Alert didn't turn, but nodded his head. "I see."

"Sounds like Primus is trying to tell us something." Ratchet commented, moving to a pile of spare parts and rifling through it.

Red Alert grunted at that, but turned to look at Ratchet regardless. "He's got serious internal burns, and high pressure wounds. Almost like someone set off a miniature super nova inside him. We've gotta remove the stupid thing in order to repair him properly."

"Oh, nice." Ratchet huffed, picking up a few parts and carting them over.

Prime watched the two medics quietly for a moment. "Why did you want me here?" He asked.

"Gotta check you out too." Red Alert said nonchalantly. "This damage was, no doubt, caused by his Matrix." He wasn't oblivious to the commander's gasp of surprise. "Whatever happened was a combined effort between the two of you, so you're likely to have burns as well. You're probably only damaged in a minor sense; I think it's because this is not where this Matrix is supposed to be."

"Hmm." Was Prime's response.

"You can wait though." Ratchet said callously. "_His_ wounds need our attention first. _You_ can still stand."

- - -

Three hours passed, and the Autobots had still not seen the head medics emerge from the medbay. Prime had left after the first hour, saying that they needed to continue working on the black Autobot when questioned on the matter.

The Autobots from Optimus' universe were worried. They were in a strange place, surrounded by strange people and other versions of themselves, and Optimus was wounded so bad that it was taking two highly skilled CMOs over three hours to repair.

"Although…" Said the blue Sideswipe as he sat slumped over a table with his counterpart and the two yellow rays of joy in the Common Room.

"Although?" Sunstreaker echoed, pausing in his quiet hating of Hot Shot to look over at the young decoder.

"…If you think about it, at least we know he's alive, and can be put back together. I mean, if he were human… if any of us were, we probably would have died about a million times by now."

The red Sideswipe smirked. "That's true."

"Not exactly encouraging." Hot Shot disagreed. "We don't even know what is wrong with him. And if _two_ Red Alerts can't fix him, well we're screwed, aren't we? And even if they do fix him, how do we get home?"

"Hot Shot, you wouldn't want our Red Alert workin' on him. He wouldn't know his transformation cog from his motherboard." The red Lamborghini cut in.

"You're quite the pessimist, you are." Sunstreaker observed, and the pair resumed glaring at each other angrily.

The Sideswipes sighed at their respective 'brothers'.

It was then that the door to the Common Room hissed open, and Scavenger walked in. His presence put all Autobots on edge, partly because his counterpart was a Decepticon, and partly because he was capable of quelling the two hot headed yellow warriors in moments. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What's up, Scavenger?" the blue Sideswipe offered after a moment, trying to be cheerful.

The four mechs sitting at the table recoiled when the green and violet mech turned to fix them with a glare.  
"You four." He said, the words making everyone flinch. There was a quiet pause. "Come with me."

"Why?" Sunstreaker asked, arching an optic ridge at the larger mech.

That, he discovered, turned out to be an incredibly dumb thing to say, as, a moment later, the large mech was looming over the Lamborghini warrior, and had grabbed him by the scruff. The other three scrambled away and moved to stand near the door.

"You've got an attitude on you I don't like." He growled. "Move your ass."

The bulldozer lifted the struggling golden mech off his chair, set him on his feet, and harshly shoved him towards the door. Sunstreaker stumbled, and fell flat on his face. Had Scavenger not been in the room, it would have been funny.

Either way, Sunstreaker didn't think it was amusing.

"What the frag was that for?!" He demanded, pulling himself up and casting an unentertained optic over his scuffed and scratched chestplate. "Look what you did to my finish!"

"Uh oh…" The blue Sideswipe breathed, seeing Scavenger's optics narrow.

The large mech cracked his knuckles, and it echoed through the deathly still Common Room. "Your paint's the last of your worries, runt." Scavenger was one of the few mechs to be able to call the thirty foot Sunstreaker 'runt', as he towered a head and shoulders over him. "Do as you're told, or you'll be short a limb."

"Sunstreaker, just do as he says already!" Hot Shot whispered urgently.

Just then, Prowl stepped between the Lamborghini and the Dozer. "You're not hurting any Autobots here, Scavenger." He said, although it was quite pitiful, seeing as the Datsun hardly reached his chest. But everyone knew Prowl's strength was not something to be sneezed at. But neither was Scavenger's, so the other Autobots prepared for the two mechs to go for each other.

Jetfire huffed at them from across the room. "Yo, Prowl, Scavenger, stand your asses down already." The two looked at the shuttle in surprise. "What's got your exhaust in a knot Scav?"

The trainer looked at the shuttle for a moment, before motioning for him to come over. The white mech trotted over to the trainer, and he leaned down and whispered something in his audio. There was a pause, and then the Vice snickered.

"Oh." Said he. "I see. Okay. I wondered where he had gotten to."

Prowl looked at the taller 2IC strangely as the green and violet mech ushered the four sports car mechs out of the room, the sound of his knuckles cracking echoed through the door.

"Don't hurt 'em too bad!" Jetfire called after them.

"What did he tell you?" Prowl asked.

Jetfire snickered. "Hoist. Our one. He's stuck."

Prowl arched an optic ridge at the white mech. "Stuck?"

"Stuck. To the ceiling."

Prowl stared at the taller mech for a few moments before shaking his head. "When in doubt, don't ask."

- - -

Two days passed. The two groups of Autobots had gone on search and rescue missions in the surrounding towns, just in case the damage to the world from the collision had put the humans in danger. Thankfully, the cities and towns were all intact, but looked a little weather beaten. Things slowly got to something that resembled normalcy. They even had a clash with the Decepticons once, a standard scuffle over energy at a power plant, where Optimus' 2IC stunned their host Autobots by flying into battle like a madman and wasting quite a few of the marauding bots. The twins had been quite put off, regarding themselves as Jetfire's 'cleanup crew' picking off the few that remained well enough to fight in the shuttle's wake.

They weren't the only ones unhappy with that battle. Starscream, who was known for being the fastest of all the airforce, was not happy to discover that this strange white Autobot shuttle (who was far too much like Skyfire for his liking) could match him in the air. Of course, the larger, bulkier shuttle was less agile than the smaller seeker, but as far as speed went, they could easily keep up with each other.

The seven Autobos were beginning to settle into this new routine, some of them even going so far as to take over some of their Host Autobots' duties at the ark. Quite a few times now the younger of the two Sideswipes had been seen sitting in front of a monitor in the Command Centre in place of his counterpart.

The two medics had still not been seen.

Prime went into the med bay every few hours to check on them, and had even gone so far as to bring the toiling CMOs a few Energon cubes. He was the only one they would tolerate in the med bay. Even Optimus' partner Minicon was asked to stay firmly out until repairs were done. When someone else needed repairs, Prime directed them to Wheeljack's lab, where the engineer and Ratchet's assistant, First Aid, and sometimes even the Dinobot Swoop, would tend to the repairs.

On the morning of the third day, Optimus' sniper, Blurr, approached Prime.

"What can I do for you Blurr?" He asked.

Blurr's expression was darker than usual. "My comrades are beginning to get accustomed to your command." He said.

"…Is that a bad thing?"

"It is if you consider that they are forgetting about trying to get ourselves back to our own world, where the Decepticons are no doubt running rampant."

"Why bring this up with me? Why not talk to them?" Prime wondered.

"They won't listen to me." Said the sniper flatly. "It'll take no less than your word or that of our own Prime to jolt their memory. But he's still…"

Blurr was cut off by a crackling from Prime's comm.

_"Prime? It's Ratchet." _Said the voice coming through it.

"What is it, Ratchet?" Prime asked.

There was a pause, one which carried the feeling of a smile from the medic. _"It's your turn. Get your behind down here."_

Prime smiled under his mask before looking to Blurr. "I think your friends will get the jolt they need soon enough." He said, before turning and moving towards the medbay.

- - -

All of Optimus' Autobots, as well as some of Prime's had gathered near the med bay door when it opened. Ratchet and Red Alert exited first, both of them looking like they could sleep for a year, and weren't far off needing to.

Then there was a please and relieved murmuring when the two Optimus Prime's left the medbay, good as new.

"Optimus!" Hot Shot had exclaimed, arms around Sideswipe's shoulders to prevent the decoder from glomp tackling their commander again. "Good to see you well again sir!"

Optimus nodded. "Thankyou… sorry."

Optimus looked over his group. They were all the same as when he saw them last, with the exception of Blurr, who looked a million times happier than he had ever seen. An improvement; one couldn't complain.

"Does this mean we can go home now?" Sideswipe asked.

Optimus looked uncertain. "Hopefully, we can find a way back." He looked over his unit before turning and looking at Red Alert. "How did you all follow me here in the first place?"

"We made some modifications to the warp gate, and followed your signal through a tear in the space-time continuum." The medic explained. "We should be able to wrangle the same thing to get back, but…"

"But it won't work without a weak spot for us to jump through." Optimus concluded, frowning when Red Alert nodded in confirmation.

"What about the tear that opened up when we came through?" Blurr mentioned. "As far as I recall, that never closed."

Everyone stared at him.

"No one's been back there since all this weird slag happened." Sunstreaker stated. "It could still be open."

"I'll go check it out!" Jetfire volunteered, moving off down the hall.

"In the mean time," Red Alert said after Jetfire had left. "Perhaps we should build a warp gate." He looked at Ratchet, who nodded, and the pair were about to re-enter the medbay to begin, when a black arm was stuck out in front of them.

"The two of you are not doing anything." Optimus said lightly, taking the medics by surprise. Optimus noticed their identical expressions and continued. "You've spent the last two days repairing me, almost without pause. You _both_ need to get some Energon and some recharge in."

They both looked shocked. But before they could argue the point, Optimus spoke again, this time with a perfectly timed contribution from his counterpart: "Now. No excuses." They said together.

"Stereo sound!" Jazz chuckled, earning him a light bop on the back of the head from Prowl.

- - -

Jetfire reported an hour later that the tear was indeed, still there. But, it was slowly recovering itself. It would probably only last another day or two, by the speed it was closing.

So, after getting a well deserved and badly needed ten hours recharge, Red Alert began teaching Wheeljack and Ratchet about their warp gate technology.

Between the three of them, with some added input from the two Hoists and First Aid, and some programming tips from the blue armoured Sideswipe, they had built a fully functional warp gate setup, with all the information and blueprints now firmly saved in Teletraan-1's hard drive. The Autobots couldn't wait to see the looks on the Decepticons' faces when they used it to warp anywhere almost instantly.

The warp equipment was all carted to the canyon, where the tear, which had began at a quarter mile long, was now no more than about a hand span in length.

"We're just in time." Red Alert commented, looking at the rip. "This probably won't last more than a few hours more."

"Let's get you all set up and ready to go then." Ratchet agreed.

Things were set up remarkably quickly and efficiently, and soon, Optimus and his Autobots were standing on one side, with Prime and many of his Autobots on the other.

The two commanders watched as their men said their goodbyes, impressed that many of them, who hadn't been getting along were managing to be civil for this. Even Hot Shot and Sunstreaker, no doubt at the request of their brothers, were managing to stand in one another's presence without glaring at each other in livid vehemence.

"Looks like this has a desirable ending." Prime mentioned to his counterpart as they looked over at their soldiers.

"I guess it does." Optimus agreed. "But we'll have our hands full, getting the Decepticons back in check after being away for so long."

"You will." Prime agreed. "But, unless my professional optics deceive me, you and your Autobots are a lot stronger than when you arrived. I think your Decepticons will be quite surprised."

Red Alert and Ratchet approached the two leaders. "Optimus, we should go. The tear won't stay open much longer."

Optimus nodded. "Autobots! Front and centre!" He declared in a loud voice, and his Autobots strode over to him. He looked at Prime and his men.

"Thankyou. All of you." He said, looking at each of them in turn. "We won't forget all the things you've done for us."

The Minicon Sparkplug scrambled up onto Optimus' shoulder. (Let's go home, partner!)

Red Alert activated the warp gate, and they all felt it begin to pull at them. Out of the corner of his optic, Optimus noticed Hot Shot and Sunstreaker thumping their fists together. He turned to his counterpart and held out his own fist, just as his outline shimmered and became white.

"If the worlds collide again in our lifetime, and you end up in our world, you're very welcome in our base." He said.

Prime nodded. "And you're always welcome if you end up back. Take care, Optimus Prime." He said, touching his fist to the other's, just as the warp gate let out a whirr and a squeal, and they vanished.

Fin


End file.
